I turned 40 in March of 2002. I do not yet consider myself middle-aged, as I plan to live to be 107 at least. I think I have a pretty good chance of doing that, especially since my maternal grandmother reached her mid-nineties (no one was quite sure about her age, including her, since she’d lied about it for so many years).

I’ve lived in the United States my whole life, near Chicago, Illinois, when I was growing up and in Michigan since I came here for college. I’m in the Detroit metro area now, living in a typical subdivision in a typical suburb with my husband, Mr. Karen, and our guinea pig, Bubba.

I work for a small software company, to be known here as Purple Systems, as an application developer. I used to be an account manager, too, but gave that up quite happily. I’ve only been a programmer since 1999; before that, I was a corporate accountant, and before that, a CPA and auditor. During the transition from accountant to programmer, I took six months off and did consulting work for six more. I like my current job better than any I’ve ever had, because Purple Systems is a very democratic place, and decisions are made based on what makes sense rather than what policy is or what’s been done in the past.

When I’m not working, I’m often doing something related to quilting. Sometimes all I can fit in is going to a quilt shop or quilt show or reading a quilt magazine, but whenever I can, I make quilts. My favorite part is designing: deciding on a pattern, choosing fabrics, playing with all the options. I love color, and quilting is a way to indulge that love. When I first started, I was all practical about it and only planned to make bed quilts, but in recent years I’ve made mostly smaller wall pieces and baby quilts, which give me a chance to try out more combinations of color and pattern than I could if I had to commit to a big quilt every time. Besides, we only have two beds in our house.

Outside of working and quilting and the typical stuff like seeing movies and eating out, I like to travel. Mr. Karen and I believe in using all our vacation time every year and using it to go places. We spend the biggest piece of our discretionary income on travel, by far. We try to take at least a couple ski trips out west each year– once you’ve skied on real mountains, it’s very hard to get excited about the little hills here in Michigan– supplemented with one long and several short non-ski trips. 2003’s big trip is Tokyo, the one in Japan.

Title links go to amazon.com, usually to the paperback edition.

I also put this information into goodreads.com. You can find me there with my gmail address (the.karend).

< < 2007

January 1, 2008 to Now: (latest finished on top)

Hunting Season, Nevada Barr, read by Barbara Rosenblat (A)
This was my first exposure to the Anna Pigeon series, and I liked it well enough that I might try some other titles featuring the character.

You’ve Been Warned, James Patterson & Howard Roughan, read by Ilyana Kadushin (A)
I almost stopped reading this more than once. The heroine, who tells her story in the first person, is whiny and makes bad choices and I just got so tired of listening to her and her craziness. I kept at it hoping she’d die a horrible death or at the very least figure out what was going on so she could explain it to me. I ended up disappointed.

Midnight Rising, Lara Adrian
This book was like what I imagine crack would be—I wanted it so much I didn’t think critically about it. I stayed up too late reading it. I brought it to work to read during lunch. And it’s the what—fourth?– in the series. Good job, Ms. Adrian.

Dark Needs at Night’s Edge, Kresley Cole
I’m still not so sure about this one—the ghostly heroine, the hero reformed through unclear means, the magik, the ten million dollars, etc.—but there were enough very good scenes in here to keep me reading.

Lord John and the Private Matter, Diana Gabaldon, read by Jeff Woodman (A)
The back cover copy told me this features a character from the Outlander series, which I’ve never read but heard good things about. I had the idea that the series is sci fi/fantasy, so kept waiting for robots or magic or something otherworldly to appear in this book, which they never did. I liked it nonetheless, though I wished more of what was told in the big reveal in the last few chapters had been discovered throughout the book.

Master of the Moon, Angela Knight
I liked this better than Master of the Night. I appreciated the strong werewolf heroine, and the silly stuff that took me out of the story in the other book was much less in evidence here (though the guys with long Easter egg colored hair were a bit much). Yes, the ending was a bit predictable but I was happy with the outcome.

The Book of Lost Things, John Connolly, read by Steven Crossley (A)
I’m not sure what to make of this book. A lot of it was really gruesome and nightmarish, but it was enough of a fairy tale that there was some distance there and I didn’t feel like abandoning it the way I did the novel about the terrorists. The non-fairy tale parts were mostly rather bleak, too, but I didn’t feel depressed when the end came.

Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer
The end of the Twilight saga. I loved the first book so much that I forgave it a lot. I liked the second despite some reservations. I thought the third was okay. This one I wasn’t that crazy about. I did like that a character I thought was getting a raw deal in earlier books got a reward of sorts in this one, though the context was rather icky. But overall, I never engaged with the characters and thought so many things were just too conveniently worked out.

The Mark of the Vampire Queen, Joey W. Hill
I didn’t like this nearly as well as the first book in the series. I especially didn’t like the ending, which seems to set up a third book that almost certainly can’t have any of the things I liked about the first one in it. The relationship dynamic that hooked me has been turned on its head.

The Soul of a Horse, Joe Camp
I am not a horse person, but I really liked this book. I admit that I did speed read the chapters written from a horse’s perspective, as those were less interesting to me.

Slow Fat Triathlete, Jayne Williams
This was recommended by a friend at work. It’s what I was hoping the The Nonrunner’s Marathon Guide for Women would be—a motivational book for athletes like me. I was slightly discouraged that the author ran her first 5K faster than I’ve ever done one but felt better when I reminded myself that she’s a lot younger than I am. I was very intrigued to learn that some triathlons have a separate division for women over 150 pounds; I might have a hope of competing in that class.

Midnight Awakening, Lara Adrian
I’m still loving this series. I especially liked the heroine in this one, and the fact that the females do talk to each other about something other than their mates, and how the plot had both a resolution and the introduction of elements to come in future books.

Deceit, James Siegal, read by Phil Sheridan (A)
This went on just a little too long. After a while I didn’t really care if the guy was crazy or if there was a conspiracy or what.

Master of the Night, Angela Knight
I picked this up because I was intrigued by reading some short stories set in this universe over the last couple years. I still like the premise but think this book lacks focus, veering from light humor to raunchiness to magical war. It sparked silly associations in my mind at times, with terms like Mageverse Fever (I think it’s goin’ around ) and Truebond (better than super glue?) sprinkled throughout. Some of the dialog also sounded clunky to my ear. I think I’ll try one more book in the series to see if I can get into it.

Vampires Are Forever, Lynsay Sands
Yet another Argeneau vampire fails to pay attention to his need for blood and hijinks ensue. In a baby vampire, that might be acceptable, but our hero is more than 200 years old. I’m losing patience with this family and this series. In this one, the main plot was a mystery that was never really resolved.

Far Appalachia, Noah Adams
This calm and friendly book gave me some context for the places Mr. Karen talks about when he goes kayaking in that region.

Stiff, Mary Roach, read by Sherry Fraser (A)
As one might imagine in a book about cadavers, there is some horror in here. It was the stuff about animal experiments that really got to me.

The Vampire Queen’s Servant, Joey W. Hill
Wow, this went some interesting places. I wasn’t entirely comfortable in some of those places, but I’m still very glad I read this. There was a slow section in the middle, but it finished with a bang.

Two Dollar Bill, Stuart Woods, read by Tony Roberts (A)
I stopped reading Stone Barrington after the ridiculous and unsexy L. A. Dead, then gave him another try a year later with Dirty Work, which was more of the same. I stayed away almost two years this time. This book was still ridiculous, but with a wink, the author nearly comes right out and says he knows his plots are unbelievable. I’ve given up trying to remember Stone’s history—romantic and otherwise—maybe that helps. (I’m pretty sure I’ve missed several books along the way.) This reader pronounces the name of Stone’s former partner differently than the reader I’ve listened to before; that was slightly distracting.

Hunting Midnight, Emma Holly
Another upyr book, another thumbs up from me.

The Nonrunner’s Marathon Guide for Women, Dawn Dais
I picked this up thinking it might motivate me to run longer distances. It struck me as funny in a quick browse in the bookstore, and it was funny (if a bit repetitive), and I did get one new stretch out of it that I’ve added to my pre- and post-run routine, but I was left feeling rather discouraged. The author trained for and completed one marathon, but never seemed to get to a point where she ever liked running, not even for small bits of time. The end of the book says she’s still running, but I have no idea why, given the constant complaints throughout.

Kiss of Crimson, Lara Adrian
Second book into the series and I’m still liking it quite a bit (of course, I said that about the Black Dagger boys back in the day). I was genuinely surprised at how one of the subplots came out; that was quite refreshing.

The Shape Shifter, Tony Hillerman, read by George Guidall (A)
I know now that this is a later book in on ongoing series, but I didn’t get that feeling while listening to it. This was my second try listening to this; the first time was too close to having listened to the same reader do a bunch of another series and that was confusing my brain. This was just okay; the mystery was not terribly mysterious but there was one character I really liked (too bad he wasn’t the main one).

The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
I checked this out after reading a “help a bitch out” entry about it over at Smart Bitches (warning: spoilers, though I’d forgotten them by the time I got around to reading). I went back and forth on this while reading; some times I felt really hooked into the story and brought it to work with me so I could read during lunch (and I had a bulky library hardcover), then other times I just wished it would move along already. I didn’t appreciate the bad things happening to animals but that was mercifully limited to a few incidents. I liked it well enough to check out more from this new-to-me author.

The Final Solution, Michael Chabon, read by Michael York (A)
The chapter told from the point of view of the parrot was the best part of this short tale. Michael York did a great job reading it; the character voices were distinct and the narration was lovely to listen to.

Lover Enshrined, J. R. Ward
I am so glad I got this sixth installment in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series from the library instead of buying it, because it’s sure not a keeper. The last BDB book pissed me off most at the end; this one pissed me off first in chapter three, and continued to annoy me at frequent intervals. (It helped not one bit that the author called the car I drive a “piece of shit” more than once.) I finished it mostly because I’m stubborn. Like the last book, there were too many subplots distracting from the main couple’s journey—even more so this time, I think. This is so far from the paranormal romance I so enjoyed in the first two books that I won’t be rushing to read what comes next.

Elsewhere, Gabrielle Zevin, read by Cassandra Morris (A)
I loved this YA novel. Loved it. It had a great, thought-provoking premise and was sweet and sad and hopeful and I didn’t want it to end. The young narrator on the audio pronounced some words differently than I do and that jangled at times but I adapted.

Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet, M. C. Beaton
I thought since I’d listened to the first and fourth in the series I should fill in the gaps, but had to read this one in paper because my library doesn’t have the audio. This is the second one in the series and met my expectations based on the others I’ve read.

Winter Fire, Jo Beverley
Eh. Like the last Malloren I read, the obstacles to the couple getting together were just suddenly gone with no satisfying explanation. The characters from earlier books in the series were more interesting to me than the current couple, too.

Murder on the Iditarod Trail, Sue Henry, read by Mary Peiffer (A)
I think maybe I should have read a non-fiction book about the Iditarod race instead, because those bits were the most interesting to me.

A Year in the Merde, Stephen Clarke
I devoured this. I found parts of it so funny I was literally shaking with laughter.

Kiss of Midnight, Lara Adrian
Oh yes, more like this, please. The vampires in this new-to-me series resemble the Black Dagger Brotherhood in J. R. Ward’s books in some respects, but their names and their villains are easier to accept.

The Pearl Harbor Murders, Max Allen Collins, read by Jeff Woodman (A)
I got a little impatient for someone to die already in the beginning. I appreciated the summary at the end sorting what was real from what was fictional.

Devilish, Jo Beverley
More Mallorens. I sped through this but had a couple problems with it. One of the perils and its aftermath just squicked me out, and I have no idea how the hero and heroine ended up together. A whole piece of the hero’s internal dialog was either missing or so subtle I missed it, because I didn’t understand his transformation.

Things I Learned from Knitting, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
A small but nice collection of “read one before bed” essays.

Dead to Worse, Charlaine Harris
I liked this 8th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series better than the last one, as real world events didn’t intrude quite so much on the story. And there was a lot of story—witch stuff and were-animal stuff and vampire stuff and fairy stuff. The pacing seemed a bit odd, as major events were covered quickly while everyday routines got plenty of attention; it didn’t seem as focused as earlier books in the series.

Cooked, Jeff Henderson, read by the author (A)
I liked this for the glimpse into three ways of life I’ll never lead myself: drug dealer, prison inmate, and professional chef.

Mine to Possess, Nalini Singh
Not my favorite in the Psy-Changeling series, maybe because there wasn’t as much Psy in it as the others, or maybe because I didn’t connect with either partner in the main couple. I really liked the excerpt from the next one; I’m very curious to see how the character I think is the heroine gets out of the situation she’s in as the excerpt ended.

Secrets of the Night, Jo Beverley
Back to the Mallorens after I took a bit of break. This started strong but sort of ran out of steam as it went along. I still liked it but wished for more of a bang at the end.

Sunshine, Robin McKinley
I loved this book, in a wanted to marry it and have it with me forever kind of way. On the face of it, I shouldn’t have liked it; the vampires are generally icky and evil, there’s a fair bit of graphic violence and only a very tiny bit of graphic sex, and the ending left many questions unanswered. But I did like it, so very much. Liked the characters, liked the world, liked the plotting, wished so much that this was the first in a series.

The Father Hunt, Rex Stout, read by Michael Prichard (A)
The age of this one showed. These days we’ve got DNA tests for this sort of thing. Not the most engaging mystery ever, though maybe I shouldn’t have started with this book in the series—perhaps if I’d already known the characters I would have enjoyed it more.

Storm Track, Margaret Maron, read by C. J. Critt (A)
This kept me guessing, and I liked it. The wrap up was perhaps a bit too tidy, but that’s a small quibble.

Dead Over Heels, MaryJanice Davidson
I think Ms. Davidson and I need to break up. One of these novellas had a couple sweet moments, but mostly I wasn’t engaged by the stories. Looking back at last year’s book log, I was also disappointed in the last two books I read from her before this, so it may be time to give up.

Heaven, V. C. Andrews (BC)
Do not read this book. It is awful, and not in an entertaining way.

Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley, M.C. Beaton, read by Donada Peters (A)
The heroine isn’t necessarily likeable, but I’m still interested in what she’s up to.

Gilgamesh: A New English Version, Stephen Mitchell, read by George Guidall (A)
I feel a bit less ignorant now that I’ve read this.

Goodnight Nobody, Jennifer Weiner, read by Johanna Parker (A)
I so didn’t understand the heroine in this one. She seemed to have the emotional maturity and decision making skills of a high school girl even though she was in her 30s and a married mother of three. The heartbreak? Not buying it. The waffling between her husband and the other man? Nonsensical. The yanking the kids out of their familiar environment just when they would seem to need stability the most? Incomprehensible. Failing to get therapy when it’s clearly needed? Stupid.

Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair, Laurie Perry
I bought this because I heard the author interviewed on the KnitPicks podcast and remembered how much I liked her website (why I don’t visit it very often I do not know). The book doesn’t quite capture the charm of the site, but it’s pretty good.

The Accidental Vampire, Lynsay Sands
I definitely haven’t lost my taste for romance novels. I like the world Lynsay Sands has created and the characters she’s populated it with, so I smiled right on through the ridiculous coincidences and credulity-defying plot points.

Abigail Raisin and the Quiche of Death, M.C. Beaton, read by Donada Peters (A)
With a title like that, I couldn’t leave it on the shelf at the library. Until fairly recently, despite reading many Agatha Christie books in my youth, I didn’t know books like this were called “cozies”. It’s a fitting term for this pleasant despite the murder story.

Fantasy Lover, Sherrilyn Kenyon
I took some time away from books to deal with all the magazines piled up in my house; reading this one made me wonder if I lost my tolerance for romance novels during the break or if this is just not a good one. I’m leaning toward the latter. I just couldn’t get into the premise; I could see the plot points coming and didn’t care for knowing for sure the hero and heroine weren’t going to get really busy until right near the end of the book (I know convention says they usually won’t, but it’s still nice to think they could even if they don’t). Also, all these gods and goddesses around lead to too many deus ex machina moments.

That Camden Summer, LaVyrle Spencer, read by David Dukes
The reader in this audio book reminded me so much of Dick Estelle, the radio reader on WKAR that I used to listen to back when I lived in Lansing; I got rather nostalic listening to him and it felt very comfortable. Wasn’t sure what to make of this book at first–was it a romance? a message novel?–but ended up liking it a lot. There is one very rough scene but I think it was needed.

The Tooth of Time, Sue Henry, read by Lee Adams
I liked the premise of an older, independent woman traveling around the country and solving crimes. I liked the descriptions of Taos. I didn’t like all the foreshadowing, though. It’s a murder mystery; I know there will be bad guys and bad stuff happening so don’t need to be told ahead of time. I also was distracted by a couple plot points that didn’t make sense.

Bitten, Kelley Armstrong
I had high hopes for this series but having read this first one, I don’t think it’s for me. I liked it better than other not-for-me books, but there was too much horror and violence and first person narration by a character I didn’t connect with.

It’s All Too Much, Peter Walsh
Reading this is part of my keep less, organize more effort. I think I’m going to have to read parts of it again, as I finished it when we were on vacation and the enthusiasm it spurred in me to declutter had mostly burned out by the time we got home.

Everett Kircher: Michigan’s Resort Pioneer, Everett Kircher and others
This was in our hotel room at Big Sky. I think they should consider taking it out, as I was not impressed to learn that the founder of the company which owns the resort has a low opinion of people like me (a non-Republican who skis with her legs not right next to each other and believes children should be allowed to pursue their dreams and not their parents’). In one chapter, Mr. Kircher mentioned how trout he attempted to introduce to Michigan decades ago mostly didn’t survive due to PCBs and other pollutants but that things were much better now thanks to environmental regulations—does he think Republicans made that happen?

Something Wicked, Jo Beverley
Third in the Malloren series. I found this one oddly paced, with peril, sex, then more peril and sex, then almost nothing going on for a huge long stretch, ending with no peril, no particularly good explanations, and not really any sex either.

Death of a Travelling Man, M. C. Beaton, read by Davina Porter (A)
It seemed like it took a long time before the travelling man died and things could really get rolling. Who did it was pretty easy to guess (though it took a while for the how to become clear), as was the fate of the main character’s assistant.

Catching Midnight, Emma Holly
Second in the upyr series. I’ve read two short stories in the series which led me to seek out this book. Mostly, I loved it. I did think it dragged a bit near the end, and parts of the world building confused me, but I liked the characters so much I can overlook that stuff.

< < 2006  2008 > >

A Perfect Mess, Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman
I liked this one so much, I wrote a whole entry inspired by it.

Fun Homeison Bechdel (BC)
I liked this graphic autobiography a lot. It was funny and touching and real.

Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
I keep reading books about chefs when I am no cook and don’t aspire to be one because they take me out of my world and into someone else’s. This one did that nicely.

The Mythical Man-Month, Frederick P. Brooks
Since one of the later chapters in this anniversary edition summarizes the original chapters point by point, I think I could have gotten almost as much out of this by just reading the last three or four chapters as the whole thing. I’d hoped I might learn something I could apply to my job but can’t say that I did, other than getting a warm fuzzy that we mostly do it right at Purple Systems. This is more a historical document, from a time when all programmers were men and batch processing was the rule. I’m glad that time has passed.

The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
I resisted reading this, in fact checked it out from the library and returned it unopened earlier this year. I try to avoid tragedy in my leisure time, and how could a book about a woman’s husband of 40 years dying as their only child was critically ill not be tragic? I checked it out again and figured I’d at least start it this time. It took a chapter or two for me to engage with the book but once I did I was hooked. The events are tragic, yes, but the book isn’t. I found it beautiful.

The Writing Life, Annie Dillard
I liked this best when she told stories, least when she got into metaphor (maybe I just didn’t grasp what she was going for). I don’t think I learned much about writing, which is okay since I don’t plan to be a writer.

Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
Now that I’ve read it, I can see why this is so popular. I got some good laughs and a couple of ideas to ponder, though I didn’t find the author an entirely sympathetic character.

The Awakening of a Surgeon, David H. Janda
I got the impression that the author is a decent, earnest guy. I’m sure he’s a good doctor, and a caring father and husband. None of that makes me want to read any more of his books, though. Maybe I’m too cynical (or too child-free) to get stirred up about some of the issues he raised. Whole chapters read like an award acceptance speech rather than containing information that might make me think.

The Family That Couldn’t Sleep, D. T. Max
This book about prions was interesting and a little scary.

My Secret Life on the McJob, Jerry Newman
The closest I’ve come to working fast food was staffing the concession stand at my brother’s Little League game one day, so I read this mostly to get a view of what goes on behind the scenes. I got that. I was annoyed by the way some anecdotes were put in boxes out of the main flow of the text (some spread across two pages); it seemed those could have been integrated into the text without a problem.

Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green, Johnny Rico
I picked this up because I was curious to see what an infantry soldier had to say about serving in Afghanistan. I felt like I got a sense of what it was like to be there.

A Three Dog Life, Abigail Thomas
I didn’t realize when I picked this up that I’d already read bits of it in O magazine. I almost put it back down when I read the blurbs on the cover—a memoir by a woman whose husband had a traumatic brain injury, described as “a punch to the heart”? That seems a bit depressing. But I liked it.

About Alice, Calvin Trillin
A sweet little book that made me cry at the end.

Non-Fiction, Crafting:

Knitticisms, Kari A. Cornell
A wee little book with a few essays on knitting interspersed with many colorful and mockable pictures from knitting books past. Fun and fast.

Mason-Dixon Knitting, Kay Gardiner & Ann Shayne
I zipped through this the same day I checked it out of the library. It’s chatty and fun and some of the patterns are pretty enticing. (I later bought my own copy.)

At Knit’s End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too MuchStephanie Pearl-McPhee
This is best read in small doses, lest the little bites of observations start to blur together.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
I didn’t like this as well as her Knitting Rules!; it’s not the kind of book I see myself revisiting anytime soon, though I did like the section about gauge swatches. Some of the pages were hard to read: dark olive background, anyone? how about small handwriting set at an angle with shadows to simulate folds in the paper? I spend enough time squinting at my knitting; I don’t need knitting books that make me do the same.

Knit Lit the Third, Linda Roghaar and Molly Wolf, editors
If they do a fourth one, I’d appreciate it if they left out the stories that make me cry. I guess I’m saying it wasn’t fluffy enough for me, but it’s a knitting book—fluffy would not be out of place.

Fiction, General:

The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell, Lilian Jackson Braun, read by George Guidall (A)
I really need to stop reading these books now that the author-bot has taken over writing the series. The main character can’t be bothered to actually investigate murders anymore, but just waits to get a letter from a friend of a friend explaining who done it and when and how. No letter, the murder goes unsolved. Despite the very short length, lots of points got repeated, and not even important ones.

Murder Unprompted, Simon Brett, read by Simon Prebble (A)
For a murder mystery, I thought it took rather a long time for someone to turn up dead, but the way things unfolded after someone did was pretty satisfying so I guess that’s alright.

The Brief History of the Dead, Kevin Brockmeier, read by Richard Poe (A)
I loved the premise of this but didn’t love how it played out. I really wished for more explanation of one of the settings, or at least an acknowledgement that things didn’t make sense there. A couple of the sections were quite tedious; perhaps this was intentional but if so I think the point could have been made another way. Still, I didn’t hate it, and it gave me stuff to think about, so on balance I’m glad I read it.

Alice Alone, Amanda Brookfield, read by Gerri Halligan (A)
I was so disappointed in the main character. I kept listening because I kept hoping the story was going to end up in a good place (the main character thought it did but I do not agree with her).

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
I hate to use my age as an excuse, but I think I might be too old for this book. If I’d read it even ten years ago, the big reveal might have resonated more. It wasn’t a bad book, not at all, just not one I found myself racing through or wanting to read again.

The Good Nanny, Benjamin Cheever, read by George Wilson
I wish I’d given up on this book early on, when the female half of the couple got hysterical for no good reason. That way I wouldn’t have been around at the end when the male half did the same damn thing, to even more appalling result. Bah.

For Matrimonial Purposes, Kavita Daswani, read by Anne Flosnik (A)
I keep forgetting that I hate these Brilliance Audios with the special effects for phone conversations; it’s very distracting. At least there weren’t many in this book. I found the heroine rather pathetic, and because most of this is told in flashback, it’s clear when things aren’t going to work out well for her so there was a real lack of surprises.

Then We Came to the End, Joshua Ferris
At first, I found this a bit annoying—all the “we” this and “we” that. Then I got sucked in and started to feel part of the world it’s set in. Then something happened that pissed me off and I didn’t like it again, except it turned out that what I thought was happening wasn’t and I calmed down. It felt real–I have worked in office where people count the ceiling tiles to see whose space is bigger, for instance—with a touch of crazy. After I finished I read some reviews in which people complained it wasn’t funny; it is funny, in spots, but it’s dark humor.

Play to the End, Robert Goddard, read by Gordon Griffin (A)
Much of the plot was frustrating and tedious. I understand there wouldn’t be much of a book if the characters called the police instead of doing their own investigation but I really wished they’d had better reasons for not doing so. Near the end, I got so angry with the stupid stuff the main character did I could barely stand it but hung in hoping it would somehow be explained so it all made sense. It was not. Quite a bummer, this one.

Grave Sight, Charlaine Harris, read by Alyssa Bresnahan (A)
I liked the premise of a young woman with a special talent for finding dead bodies (and listening to ones that aren’t lost). I wish the premise had been used in a better plot. The wrap up of who did what and why was very unsatisfying. That many people got killed because of that? Really?

murder@maggody.com, Joan Hess, read by C. J. Critt (A)
I’m surprised I managed to finish this. The main characters ignorance about computers and the internet was really, really hard to swallow. This woman had lived in Manhattan! Surely they had computers in Manhattan in the late 1990s (the book was published in 2000). And the explanation for something that was going on with people’s e-mail made no sense, either. I did get a couple of laughs out of it, though.

Two-Faced Death, Roderick Jeffries, read by Patrick Tull
I had some trouble keeping a few of the characters separate in my head—one English couple living in Majorca seemed quite like the other—and was a bit impatient for the death to happen so things could start moving along. I liked that didn’t see the ending coming, and I don’t just mean the whodunit part.

Angels, Marian Keyes, read by Gerri Halligan (A)
I picked this up at the library because I recognized the author from a collection of nonfiction essays I’d listened to last year. I sometimes got distracted by the narrator’s rendering of American accents, and some of the characters did things I wasn’t thrilled with, but overall I liked it enough to finish it.

Anybody Out There?, Marian Keyes, read by Terry Donnelly (A)
The first third of this was so gloomy that I almost gave up. It was obvious that something bad had happened, something worse than what was being talked about, and I hated that feeling of something lurking and casting a pall. But I’m glad I persevered, as I got some really good laughs out of the latter part of the book. The accents from this reader were not distracting like the narrator for the last Marian Keyes I listened to, so that was nice.

The Art of Detection, Laurie R. King, read by Alyssa Bresnahan and Robert Ian Mackenzie
I liked this a lot. There’s a story within the story and often I don’t appreciate having the main narrative interrupted like that, but here it worked because the other story was interesting. I appreciated that the cast of characters was inclusive.

The Pleasing Hour, Lily King, read by Suzanne Toren (A)
I’m ambivalent about the main character but really liked one of the secondary characters and wished for more of her. It sort of felt like two books jammed into one—the contemporary story and the generation’s before. This didn’t so much end as trail off.

The History of Love, Nicole Krauss
I really, really liked it. Not quite loved, because of the mother, but really, really liked.

The God of Animals, Aryn Kyle, read by Lillian Rabe (A)
Mostly, this made me sad. Sad for the people and really sad for the horses.

The Hot Kid, Elmore Leonard, read by Arliss Howard (A)
This reminded me of a comic book, but not in a bad way. I could see the main character as a romance novel hero, too.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Jeffry Lindsay, read by Nick Landrum (A)
This started out creepy and stayed that way ’til the end, though there was a lot of humor for a book about a sociopath. I’m still not sure exactly what happened between the climactic scene and the epilogue.

Love Life, Bobbie Ann Mason
I pulled this off my “to be read” pile after I got back from the AQS show and was tickled when the first story involved quilts and the second mentioned Paducah (later ones did, too). Overall, though, this collection seemed very melancholy. There were a couple stories I really liked, but I had to take this book in small doses because larger ones brought me down.

The Fandom of the Operatorbert Rankin, read by the author (A)
This was an odd one. I liked it, but felt vaguely troubled by it. The main character wasn’t who I thought he was, but by the time that was clear, I liked him too much to stop listening.

The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin (BC)
This is a child’s book best read when one is a child. I couldn’t find a sympathetic character in the bunch, perhaps because I am old enough to find precocious ten year olds who kick people annoying. The mystery was okay, but I never got curious enough to try and figure it out myself.

Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone, J. K. Rowling (RR)
Like so many other people, I’m trying to re-read the first six Harry Potters before the last one comes out this summer. I only listened to the first five, so this time I’m doing it the old-fashioned way: on paper. Biggest surprise: Ron’s Weasley sweater didn’t have his initial on it.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J. K. Rowling (RR)
No surprises here, other than I didn’t realize how well I knew this book.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J. K. Rowling (RR)
Hate the rat. Hate ‘im.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling (RR)
Despite the major plot problem, this is still my favorite Harry Potter book.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J. K. Rowling (RR)
It took me approximately five times longer to re-read this Harry Potter than any of the earlier ones, not so much because it’s so long but because I hate it so much. All the angst, all the shouting, all the bad (and stupid) stuff going on–bah.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J. K. Rowling (RR)
After OotP, it was a relief to sink into this one.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling
While I wished some things had been different, overall I’m pleased with how things turned out.

Fiction, Paranormal:

The Turning, Jennifer Armintrout
I can’t remember why I bought this first book in a new to me vampire series. I wish I did remember, because I then I could stop choosing books that way. There was too much blood and gore and too many innocent victims for my taste. I know, I know—I should expect that of vampires, but I’ve gotten used to reading vamp books that aren’t so graphic (or, if graphic, go over the top enough that I can view them as a comic book and not get squicked out). I kept reading hoping there’d be a twist at the end to redeem things or at least make me want to give the series another try, but I didn’t find that.

Full Moon Rising, Keri Arthur
This should have been right up my alley–vampires and werewolves and sexin’, oh my–but it didn’t quite click for me. I think a little more world building and a little less peril would have helped, but I’m not sure. This may not be the world for me, with the moon fever and the auras and the bloodlust. I’ll probably give the second book in this series a try before I decide.

A Hunger Like No Other, Kresley Cole
A few chapters in, I was thinking this was not a series for me, what with the hero pursuing the heroine because he scented her as his fated eternal life mate and most of the vampires being of the red-eyed evil variety, but then I got sucked in. The hero was doing his best to temper his alpha-ness (not easy for a werewolf), there were some kick ass women warriors, there were some hot if sometimes frustrating sex scenes, and the two things that bothered me early were addressed later, so now I’m on board. Bring on the Valkyries and Lykae!

No Rest for the Wicked, Kresley Cole
Oh lord, we’ve got time travel. Fortunately not much of it, but still, I’m not a big fan of time travel. I think this book could have been just as effective without it. I loved the hero in this one, the heroine less so.

Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night, Kresley Cole
I liked this third installment in the series as much as the first one, even though there were hardly any vampires in it at all, probably because the heroine could really hold her own. Yes, there was a bit too much drama at times, but that fits with the genre.

Playing Easy to Get, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jaid Black, and Kresley Cole
I got this because of the story by Kresley Cole which features two of the secondary characters from A Hunger Like No Other, and that story was my favorite of the three in this collection. Kenyon’s tale was my least favorite, with an oddly paced plot and a heroine whose transformation from meek to aggressive made no sense. Jaid Black’s story was forgettable, but I do recall that I didn’t care for key parts of the premise.

Sleeping with the Fishes, MaryJanice Davidson
I picked this up at the airport because I recognized the author from the Undead series and figured this would be some nice light vacation reading. It was. It’s also evidently the first book in a new series (about a mermaid), which means it’s rather unsatisfying as a stand alone read, as a major question is left unresolved. The copy I have contains an excerpt from the next Undead book that didn’t exactly make me pant with anticipation, which is too bad.

Undead and Uneasy, MaryJanice Davidson
Not good. There’s a spoiler in the acknowledgements and another (less specific, though about a more important plot point) in the letter to readers, both of which come before the text. I expect to find spoilers in Amazon reviews but not in prefaces in the actual book. Color me disappointed before I even really got started. I remain disappointed now that I’ve finished. There’s way too much Betsy in this. I know she’s the main character in the series, but she tends to be annoying, shallow, whining, self-centered, and stupid; she needs to be balanced by the characters that are not, and they’re not much in evidence. Some werewolves do show up, and I got the impression that I would have enjoyed their parts more if I’d read Derik’s Bane, but I have not. Also, like the last book, this one is not hot, which means I definitely won’t be buying my own copy when it comes out in paperback.

Night Life, Elizabeth Guest
The author obviously researched ancient Egypt; I would have liked the book better if that information had been less obviously presented. Maybe the problem is my lack of experience with experts in the field; perhaps Egyptologists do go around saying things like “… take the five elements of his existence from him: his akh, his ba, his ka, his name, and his shadow.” I was not happy with the vampire aspects of this world, either; there was too much repetition of the phrase “Eater of Blood and Breaker of Bones” and not enough explanation of how these creatures came to be and why there were no good alternatives to them being evil monsters.

Best New Paranormal Romance, Paula Guran, editor
Like most anthologies, this one was uneven. I thought some of the stories were more sci fi than paranormal (though I liked a couple of those ones quite a lot), and some were not at all romantic, and the one involving an Iraq war veteran started out entirely too realistic for my taste. But there were a few that have stuck with me, so I’d say it was worth it to read this.

All Together Dead, Charlaine Harris
I was happy that this seventh book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries series had more Eric in it (I really like Eric) than the last one did but was troubled by how dark it was, darker than the last book even. Real news events are intruding on this fictional world, and I mostly don’t like it. I’m hoping for happier times in the next book.

Night’s Edge, Maggie Shayne, Barbara Hambly, Charlaine Harris
I bought this for the Charlaine Harris vampire tale, which I enjoyed. The other two stories are ghost stories; both had similar plots and I didn’t really care for either one. For whatever reason, I have an easier time suspending disbelief for vampires than for a ghosts.

The Good, the Bad, and the Undead, Kim Harrison
Second in the series. I read the first some time ago so was fuzzy on the details of this world. There’s a lot going on, so much that I had to read this in small chunks. I finished feeling confused about whether the author wanted me to feel sympathetic toward a couple of the bad guys. The heroine sure doesn’t like them, but I don’t share her feelings even though the book is told in the first person.

Hot Blooded, Christine Feehan, Maggie Shayne, Emma Holly, and Angela Knight
The Feehan story confirmed my feelings that Carpathians are not for me. The Maggie Shayne werewolf tale had some good points but also some cringe-worthy stereotypes. Emma Holly’s upyr story was my favorite of the bunch, despite a credulity-stretched-to-the-breaking-point first encounter between the hero and heroine. Angela Knight’s contribution had some eye-rollingly annoying aspects but a very interesting premise; I want to see what else she’s written.

Fantasy, Christine Feehan, Emma Holly, Sabrina Jeffries, and Elda Minger
A collection of four romantic novellas. The historical by Sabrina Jeffries was fun. The vampire tale by Emma Holly was the reason I bought this book, as I like Emma Holly and I like vampires; I liked the story though I don’t understand why the solution to the heroine’s problem works. The contemporary by Elda Minger was okay but I wished for something hotter and less formulaic. The shapeshifting paranormal by Christine Feehan was my least favorite, as it seemed to have too much explanation and not enough romance.

Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
I loved this vampire novel even though I’m a couple-three decades older than its young adult target market. Yes, it had flaws, but I got so caught up in this fictional world that I barely noticed them. No sooner had I finished than I went back to re-read my favorite sections.

New Moon, Stephenie Meyer
This is the sequel to Twilight, the YA vampire novel I liked so much. When it became clear that this book was going to have much less vampire content than the first, I was worried I wouldn’t enjoy it as much. In fact, I liked one of the non-vamp characters so much I was sad when he got shunted aside when the first person narrator stopped hanging out with him. Reading this was like sinking into a comforting alternate reality, which is odd, because a lot of what goes on is far from warm and fuzzy. It does suffer from a touch of second act syndrome, where things are left open for the third book, but that didn’t bother me too much since I’m already on the hold list for that book and it comes out next week.

Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer
Third in the series, and I didn’t get as good a feeling from it as the first two. I spent a big chunk of the book not nearly as in love with the hero as the heroine is and not seeing how that relationship was going to work out long term. One of my main concerns was later mentioned but not exactly addressed to my satisfaction. I’m disappointed that the heroine didn’t make the choice I think I would faced with her situation and feel really bad for one of the secondary characters. I guess that means it’s a good book, since I care about what happens to these people.

Dead End Dating, Kimberly Raye
I heard about this one and thought, “hey a humorous vamp series I haven’t tried–yay!” I started reading and thought, “this chick is more annoying than Betsy (of the Undead series)–yuck!” I liked it somewhat better as the chapters unfolded (though I’m still not overly fond of Lil, the heroine, who seems really immature for being 500 years old), but when I finished, I felt let down. This book is a big tease, with lots of talk and almost no action.

Bite Me If You Can, Lynsay Sands
This is the latest in the Argeneau vampire series, and I think it’s my favorite. It did have a few episodes that made me impatient–the family meddling, the amount of time spent on the dog with garbage bag incident–and the character motivations were a bit pat and over-explained, but I liked the hero and heroine and the overall plot and enjoyed their story.

Slave to Sensation, Nalini Singh
I bought this one because Bam liked it, and she did not steer me wrong. This is a paranormal with no vampires whatsoever, yet I still loved it. The world building is there, but it’s woven into the story so well I never felt my eyes glaze over. I can’t think of any particularly stupid things done by the characters in service of the plot; perhaps those elements were there but I overlooked them because I was so into the book. I even cried a time or two (though that may have been because I was reading at five a.m. thanks to a bout of insomnia).

Visions of Heat, Nalini Singh
Second in her Psy-Changeling series. This one didn’t grab me quite as hard as the first one, probably because the world was not new to me so I didn’t get that extra boost of novelty. Still, since I loved the first one, I liked the one quite a lot on the overall scale. I found I enjoyed the non-romance parts of the plot quite a bit and have a lot of hope for this series.

Caressed by Ice, Nalini Singh
Third in the series. I liked it enough to read it quickly. I did have some problems with it, though. It felt like there was too much going on that distracted from the main plot, and the central romance was too troubled for my taste. Give me a damaged hero or a damaged heroine, but not both; that’s too much like real life.

An Enchanted Season, Maggie Shayne, Erin McCarthy, Nalini Singh, and Jean Johnson
This book is like a cup of hot chocolate, warm and sweet. I was hoping for something a little spicier. The best of the stories was from Nalini Singh, but it was not as hot as her novels set in the same world, and the hero was a bit too stubborn to be believed. My least favorite was Maggie Shayne’s tale; I was so distracted by plot points not making sense that I never connected with any of the characters. Erin McCarthy’s tale of witches was better, but the heroine was way too passive for my taste. Jean Johnson’s story got a bit preachy.

Lover Revealed R. Ward
The fourth installment in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I’m sad that this one (like the one before) didn’t grab me the way the first two did. My main problem was character transformations that didn’t make sense. Sure, they were convenient for the plot of this book but didn’t fit what I’d come to know of those characters and the world they inhabit and weren’t explained so I could readily accept them. I do wonder how much my reaction to these later books has been colored by the bad experience I had at the author’s forum (which I found after reading the second book). Would I like these recent books more if there weren’t a link in my head between the Brotherhood and that awful board? I still like them enough to read them, silly names and annoying slang (”compy” for computer? rilly?) and brand name dropping and all, but I miss the buzz I got from the first two.

Lover Unbound, J. R. Ward
Fifth in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and my least favorite so far. On the plus side, there was mercifully little about the bad guys in this one; those sections have always dragged for me in previous installments. On the minus side, there’s at least one subplot too many, the heroine’s voice didn’t ring true, the hero’s transformation was entirely too quick, the product placements are getting really annoying, and I am so unsatisfied with the ending I think I need to go back and re-read the first book to try and recapture some of my previous love for this series.

Fiction, Historicals and Other Romances:

My Lady Notorious, Jo Beverly
Far fetched (yeah, I know that’s something coming from the chick who reads vamp books) but mostly enjoyable. I could have done without the historical exposition but I guess it was needed for the plot.

Tempting Fortune, Jo Beverley
Second in the Malloren series. I didn’t like it as well as the first one. The heroine gets more annoying as the book goes on. I never got why the hero was so into her.

Strange Attractions, Emma Holly
My first venture into erotic fiction, and thus my first opportunity to ask myself questions while reading like “what happened to the remote control vibrator thingy he had up his butt in the last chapter?” There were parts that made me say “oh, please” and roll my eyes, but there were plenty of other parts that made me say “oh, please, more please”. I liked that the heroine had a lot of control over who and what and when. I really liked the author’s bio at the back, which said she thinks if you’re breathing hard you’re running fast—a woman after my own heart there.

The Golden Leopard, Lynn Kerstan
I picked this up when the library had put most of the romances in boxes while the area where they’re usually shelved was being painted; this was at the top of a box and the rest of the trilogy it starts was there too, so I grabbed them all. I don’t think I’ll be reading the other two, at least not right now. I didn’t hate this, not by a long shot, but it took a while to get going.
Someone to Watch Over Me, Lisa Kleypas
With this book, I feel like a crossed a line. It’s a historical romance, a Regency at that. No longer am I limiting myself to vampires or even paranormal romances. I’m a bit worried about what this means. It’s Bam’s fault, really; I bought this because she gave it an A. I shouldn’t have enjoyed this as much as I did. It’s chock full of romance clichés, including an amnesiac heroine, and I was able to guess at much of the plot from very early on, but I wanted to keep reading.

Lady Sophia’s Lover, Lisa Kleypas
I liked Someone to Watch Over Me so much that I sought out this sequel (there’s also a third one, and I’ve got my name on the hold list at the library for that, too). This one was better. I don’t believe the characters belong in the time period they’re plopped down in, but that doesn’t bother me; I’m not reading for the history but for the sizzle, and there was plenty of that, with a minimum of too stupid to live moments on the part of the heroine.

Suddenly You, Lisa Kleypas
While waiting for my name to come up on the hold list for the third in the Bow Street Runners series, I picked up this other Kleypas historical romance. As with the others, it engaged me despite myself. Also, hot, with a refreshing lack of peril.

Worth Any Price, Lisa Kleypas
When late in the book the heroine reassured herself that no one could have seen a certain plot twist coming, I just had to laugh. Honey, I saw it coming chapters and chapters ago. But I don’t read romance novels to be surprised, so that’s okay.

Dreaming of You, Lisa Kleypas
I think I need a break from Ms. Kleypas after this one, which had too much angst for my taste (plus a plot detour and some late, unnecessary peril). And the last love scene? Not my cup of tea at all.

Then Came You, Lisa Kleypas
Back to Lisa Kleypas after a break and darned if she didn’t suck me right back in. Sure, there were parts of this which stretched believability, and there was no doubt about how it would end (I already read the sequel, not that I had to to know) yet I go so involved I brought it to work to read during lunch.

< < 2005-2006  2007 > >

Non-Fiction:

Dry, Augusten Burroughs
I liked this book, though not quite as much as his Running With Scissors. This one seemed too tidy somehow, with a story arc that real life doesn’t usually provide. I completely missed the note at the front (on the page that faces the title, I think it was), which said “certain episodes are imaginative re-creation, and those episodes are not intended to portray actual events”. Reviews I looked at after I read it pointed it out, and sure enough, there it was when I checked; that explains a lot.

Fair Ball, Bob Costas, read by the author (A)
This is basically a book length proposal for how to fix baseball, circa 2000. It made so much sense to me. Sure, now and again my eyes would glaze over a tiny bit because I am not all that well versed in the business of baseball, but overall there were a lot of good ideas and good reasoning in here.

The Future of Ice, Gretel Ehrlich
Here’s another book that I didn’t quite understand. Is it meditation on winter? An autobiography? A warning about global warming? All of the above? I’m not sure. I liked it best when it was personal, when she told stories about winter canoeing and hiking and wildlife. I liked it least when she turned poetic and abstract—then I’d want to stop reading.

The Worst Day of My Life, So Far, M. A. Harper
This novel about a woman caring for her mother with Alzheimer’s felt very honest and made me think. I wasn’t sold on the palmistry aspect, but that was a minor thing.

Under the Duvet, Marian Keyes, read by the author (A)
These slice of life essays were for the most part light and entertaining. The author/reader is Irish, and hearing her was a nice change of pace from the American and English fare I usually listen to. One tiny quibble: in order to not be annoyed, I had to assume that the Irish pronounce “feng shui” differently than the proper American English sound.

To See Every Bird on Earth, Dan Koeppel, read by John McDonough (A)
This is both a window into the world of serious birders and a biography of the author’s father. I considered whether I would like to be a big lister—I like to look at birds, and I like to document things, and I like to travel to new places—but then the book told me that serious birders get up at 3 a.m. every day on their trips and go out looking for birds without even eating breakfast first, so I’m out.

Maximum City, Suketu Mehta
It took me a very long time to get through this book; there was so much detail to absorb. As with other books I’ve read about India, this one made me think that it’s not the country for me.

Catapult: Harry and I Build a Siege Weapon, Jim Paul
This has been on my “to read” list for a long time. Maybe I let the anticipation build too long, because I was disappointed. I liked the parts about actually building the catapult, and the history interludes weren’t bad either, but there was only one picture of the weapon they built. One, and it wasn’t very large or clear or detailed. There were other pictures taken—the text refers to them—and I wanted to see them. I still don’t have a good image in my head of how the thing worked or what it looked like. I’m also a little uncomfortable about the whole getting a grant from an arts organization to do the project.

A Venetian Affair, Andrea di Robilant, read by Paul Hecht with Lisette Lecat and Jeff Woodman (A)
Because this love affair happened in real life and not a romance novel, things didn’t unfold as I’d hoped. Also, because the story was reconstructed from letters written in the 1700s and not all of the correspondence survived, there were gaps and unanswered questions that vex me. It’s neither compelling romance nor interesting history.

Cross Country, Robert Sullivan
I sought this out because I heard the author interviewed on Whadya Know? and liked what he had to say. This is a long book, but unlike the one I read earlier this year about India, it wasn’t hard to get through at all and I wished there were more of it. It’s a bunch of stuff all put together: travelogues of several different trips, history lessons, autobiography, and random observations. It rambles, yes, but I like that. I like to peek into other people’s heads and it felt like this book let me do that.

A Hope in the Unseen, Ron Suskind (BC)
A lot of this was just so sad—all the kids who don’t make it, don’t get the opportunities, and how hard it is for those who do. I sort of wish I’d read the author’s afterward first, because it sheds light on the conversations recreated in the text, which was something that distracted me a little bit—how did the author know? How much was fictionalized? When I was done, I had to Google to see what had happened to the protagonist; evidently he does a fair bit of motivational speaking now.

Non-Fiction, Crafting:

Stash Envy, Lisa Boyer
A pleasant little collection of quilt-related columns, perfect for reading on the plane when I kept getting interrupted by announcements and the beverage cart and such.

Zen and the Art of Knitting, Bernadette Murphy
It took me a long time to get through this little book about knitting and its connections to creativity and meditation and spirituality. I spent some of those minutes studying the line drawings of the different stitch patterns at the start of the chapters and trying—and mostly failing—to see the stitches as described in the instructions. I think it took me so long to read because it was neither a series of essays that I could enjoy one by one (like The Joy of Knitting which I read earlier this year) or a coherent whole that kept me engaged. It felt more like a random series of stories—different knitters the author had talked to about various things and her own reaction to September 11, 2001 and I never quite got a feel for what the overall message was.

The Joy of Knitting, Lisa R. Myers
A pleasant little book of essays about knitting, with short patterns at the end of every chapter.

Knitting Rules!, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
I liked the content of this, but the format bugged me; there are a lot of little boxes of tips interrupting the main text and some of those are white letters on a dull burgundy background, which is hard to read, and others are dull burgundy letters on a dull rose background, ditto.

Sweater Design in Plain English, Maggie Righetti
This wasn’t as accessible as her Knitting in Plain English, probably because a lot of it is patterns—patterns with a lot of instructional material, true, but still patterns, which aren’t exactly engaging reading material. A lot of this was just over my head, I think, but will probably come in handy after I’ve had a bit more knitting experience.

KnitLit, Linda Roghaar and Molly Wolf, editors
This book of essays about knitting is best read in small doses, as otherwise the stories start to run together.

KnitLit (too), Linda Roghaar and Molly Wolf, editors
Like the first one, this mostly pleasant collection of essays is best nibbled at in short sessions rather than devoured all at once.

Fiction:

Death of a Snob, M. C. Beaton, read by Davina Porter (A)
A short, pleasant car book. I didn’t much care about the person killed, so that was all right. It did end rather abruptly.

The Skeleton in the Closet, M.C. Beaton, read by Donada Peters (A)
A good car book. The mystery and the story were a little too neatly wrapped up to be believed, but that’s okay because the scenario is awesome—a big surprise inheritance. Give me some of that.

The Ice Maiden, Edna Buchanan, read by Anna Fields (A)
This was a real downer. It was liberally sprinkled with references to 9/11, which I hadn’t expected in a book about a cold case that had nothing to do with New York, Washington, Pennsylvania, and/or terrorists, and those kept taking me out of the flow of the story. That wasn’t the worst part, though. The ending was the worst part.

Cold Case Squad, Edna Buchanan, read by Robertson Dean (A)
I didn’t realize until I started listening that this is a sequel to another book I’d read (The Ice Maiden), one I hadn’t liked. I figured I’d give it a chance since I didn’t have another book with me. I didn’t like the way the point of view switched between first- and third-person; some chapters in one, some in the other. Overall it was better than the other one, but there was a point in the last disc when I was cursing the author for what she was doing to one of the main characters. It turned out mostly okay, though, unlike the earlier book, so I feel better about this one. Still, I don’t think I’ll be listening to any more Edna Buchanan on my commute; I don’t need any more angst on my drive than traffic and construction already provide.

JPod, Douglas Coupland (BC)
If not for the book club, I don’t know if I would have finished this. The insertion of random bits of text in the middle of the story annoyed me at first, especially the pages of small, tight text that I wasn’t sure if I needed to read or not, but I could see a purpose for them, mirroring the way random bits of information hit us in the real world. After I’d gotten into it, I came to appreciate these random bits because by skipping them I could get through the book more quickly. Pages and pages of random numbers? Score! I didn’t at all see the purpose of the author inserting himself into the story; that made it hard for me to immerse myself in the fictional world, which I was having a hard enough time with already what with all the strange happenings in the life of a programmer.

Bet Me, Jennifer Crusie
I picked this up at the library because someone told me the author wrote good, funny romances. They were right—I laughed and smiled a lot while reading this.

Tell Me Lies, Jennifer Crusie (BC)
This was darker than Bet Me, and I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much. Because I wasn’t laughing and smiling all the time as I read and the pacing seemed fairly slow (though I’ve since read reviews that complain about it being frenetic, so I guess I really wasn’t engaged by this). I had plenty of time to sympathize with the bad husband and ponder why the heroine did such stupid things (yes, she was very stressed and probably not thinking straight, but still—the thing with the gun? too, too dumb). I did appreciate that the hero was a sexy accountant, though—he was a bit too good to be true, but hey, that’s the romance genre for you.

The Body Artist, Don DeLillo, read by Laurie Anderson (A)
This is a very short book, yet it took me a very long time to finish it. There’s no linear plot and nothing much seems to happen and Ms. Anderson’s voice is soothing and I found if I listened too long at a stretch I started to feel very sleepy, which is not a good thing when driving. I would have abandoned this except I kept hoping I would somehow start to understand it, and besides it was only 3 discs, surely I could finish three discs. Now that I have, I still have no clear idea what this was about. Grief? Insanity? Dreams? No idea.

How We Are Hungry, Dave Eggers
I picked this up because I liked the look of it—tooled black cover with textured bronze endpapers and an elastic strap emerging from the back cover that I thought was a bookmark but evidently is not because there’s a ribbon bound into the spine that is definitely a bookmark. As for the contents, they’re pretty good, too, with a variety of characters and situations and imagery. Some of the stories made me smile, and some made me think, some made me feel wistful. I liked that there were short sketches mixed in with longer tales; that added to the variety.

Tietam Brown, Mick Foley, read by Daniel Passer (A)
Man, this makes three car books in a row that threw me for a loop as far as their emotional punch. I liked it, but parts of it were very intense and uncomfortable to listen to. It was strange and sweet and cartoony and touching.

With No One As Witness, Elizabeth George, read by Donada Peters (A)
This dark novel about a Scotland Yard investigation targeting a serial killer was good and absorbing, but I really, really could have done without what the back cover copy refers to as “a devastating tragedy within the police ranks”. It just felt like too much sadness, too much pain. I listened for 20 hours up to that point only to get presented with that plot twist? No fair.

Sammy’s Hill, Kristin Gore
I had a little bit of trouble getting past the part where the heroine heads off to work without noticing she’s got a heeled sandal on one foot and a sneaker on the other—who could do that?—but this book got better as it went on and I ended up staying up late one night to finish it because I really wanted to see how things were going to turn out. There are a couple of really funny scenes and a lot of more subtle humor throughout, but it’s also very touching in spots.

The Mammoth Cheese, Sherri Holman, read by Laurel Merlington (A)
I was disappointed that the title cheese doesn’t even get started until about a third through the book. I know, it’s a serious novel and not just a story about cheese, but still. Overall, I found this book rather grim and dreary—most of the characters spend most of the book being sad, frustrated, stressed and/or melancholy. That’s not to say it wasn’t interesting, but it wasn’t particularly enjoyable. Also, this Brilliance Audio did that thing I don’t like where some of the dialog was mechanically enhanced—say, when a preacher was speaking to the congregation—which I find distracting and hokey.

Beyond Belief, Roy Johansen, read by Richard Ferrone (A)
This strayed into Edna Buchanan territory from time to time, with some violence and death that seemed completely unnecessary to the story, but overall I liked it. I wonder if there’s a sequel; there was certainly a good setup for one, though done in a way that this book felt complete on its own.

Dark Matter, Phillip Kerr, read by John Less (A)
Real people (Issaac Newton and his clerk Christopher Ellis) in made up situations. This got off to a slow start and I almost stopped listening, but then I got into the mystery. Newton is a bit like the detective Monk of the 1690s in this (without the OCD ticks)—figuring all sorts of things out from being an acute observer. I think I might have gotten more out of this if I knew more about English history. I know I could have taken it more seriously if I hadn’t thought of candy every time the narrator said “Newgate” in his English accent.

Can You Keep a Secret?, Sophie Kinsella, read by Kate Reading (A)
I did get a couple of good laughs out of this, but I’m not sure that made it worth it to sit through the rest of the book, which was stupid and infuriating and even painful. Part of the problem was my inability to connect with the main character. It helped not one bit that she hit on one of my pet peeves by borrowing her roommate’s clothes without asking, in fact knowing her roommate didn’t want her to have them. The plot twists designed to keep the hero and heroine apart seemed forced. Surely real people wouldn’t act like that—yet this wasn’t a fantasy world, so I couldn’t explain it away on that basis.

My Life on a Plate, India Knight, read by Jill Tanner (A)
I wasn’t sure which way this was going to turn out, so that’s a point in its favor. I was disappointed that some minor characters just disappeared from the book; I would have liked to know what happened to them, too. I didn’t find this nearly as funny as some people seem to have, maybe because I was distracted by asking myself questions like “what is her problem?” and “what’s the attraction?”

Last Lessons of Summer, Margaret Maron, read by Kate Forbes (A)
This mystery had some excellent red herrings in it. Just when I thought I had it figured out, something would happen that made sense but wasn’t the obvious thing. Nice.

Birds of America, Lorrie Moore
The more I read, the bleaker and sadder the stories seemed to get. I did get one good laugh out of it and several interesting turns of phrase to feed my brain, but I won’t be sad to turn it back into the library.

Death Goes on Retreat, Sister Carol Anne O’Marie, read by Marguerite Gavin (A)
This was okay, but I thought there were too many suspects and too little believable explanation when the murderer was revealed—the groundwork hadn’t been laid for that resolution.

Widow’s Walk, Robert B. Parker, read by Joe Mantegna (A)
Now this was a good car book, in that it did not make me cry and did not make me want to throw the discs out the window. I was a tiny bit disappointed that the first murder was not really resolved—we find out at the end who did it (or had it done, it’s not clear) but not how, and I’d really like to know.

Family Honor, Robert B. Parker, read by Andrea Thompson (A)
This is the first book in the Sunny Randall series—it wasn’t until I was a bit into this that I realized I’d listened to a later book in the series some time ago and not liked it, even judging by the standards of fluffy fiction. This one was better than that one, but still stretched believability a bit too far for me. Yeah, it sure helps when you’re a detective and have strong connections to both the cops and organized crime—and have a friend who’s a karate black belt and willing to come with you and beat up on other people’s bodyguards. Very convenient.

The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman
This has been on my “to be read” list for ages. I’m not sure I’m going to read the other two in the trilogy, as I found this one pretty grim. Children being kidnapped and tortured—not so cheery. Maybe the other two books provide redemption? Though now that I’ve read the reviews from readers who say it’s anti-religion, I feel like I have a moral obligation to keep reading.

Courting Trouble, Lisa Scottoline, read by Barbara Rosenblatt (A)
If you like stereotypes, stupidity, and tedium, you should read this. Otherwise, stay far away. I wish I had. I can’t quite explain why I kept listening; I guess I just couldn’t believe it wouldn’t get better at some point. It didn’t. I neither cared about nor understood the main character. The plot was filled with people doing things that made no sense whatsoever; sometimes the motivations for these actions would be explained, but the explanations made no sense either. A child is born with a cleft lip and doesn’t get surgery until she’s 10 years old? In modern America? I don’t buy it. My brother got his surgery when he was an infant, and we weren’t well off by any means.

New Orleans Mourning, Julie Smith, read by Cristine McMurdo-Wallis (A)
Mr. Karen and I listened to this on our road trip; when we got to New Orleans, it was fun to see things there that had been mentioned in the book, and after we left the city it was fun to hear about the characters being in some of the same places. My theory about who did it turned out to be true but there were a lot of twists and turns to get to that point.

Sucker Bet, James Swain, read by Paul Boehmer (A)
This was pretty good. I especially liked that some older characters got big, active roles. (And it was refreshing to have older characters actually show their age, unlike, say, vampires.) There are two earlier books with the same main character; I plan to look for them at the library.

Only Dad, Alan Titchmarsh, read by the author (A)
I spent the first part of this book wishing something would happen, and then something did, and it was horrible, and then I wished it had stayed pleasant and mundane. Not that there shouldn’t be books about horrible things, of course, but I didn’t quite expect this one to go where it did. I don’t like my commute books to make me cry, and now this is two in a row.

Fiction, Paranormal:

Dead and Loving It, MaryJanice Davidson
For the most part, this was a fun read. No, these aren’t tightly plotted short stories, and yes, there is a fair bit of rough sex. Based on the Undead books, I wasn’t surprised. I haven’t read any of MJD’s other werewolf stuff, so I’m not sure where the ones in this book fit in, but I didn’t feel like I needed that background to enjoy them. I was a bit put off by the vampire in the second story; he didn’t seem to be of the same world as Queen Betsy. Betsy herself shows up in the last story—I would have liked Undead and Unpopular a lot better if this material had been held and incorporated into that book.

Undead and Unappreciated, MaryJanice Davidson
Undead and Unemployed, MaryJanice Davidson
Undead and Unwed, MaryJanice Davidson
Also recommended on that message board, I liked these better than Bitten & Smitten. The heroine can be rather annoying and even infuriating at times, and the vampire rules are again somewhat different, but they were fast, fun reads. I liked the third (Unappreciated) book best, followed by the first (Unwed).

Undead and Unreturnable, MaryJanice Davidson
Book Four in the Undead series. A really quick read—fun and fluffy, with no complicated plot to slow things down. I am very glad that Betsy has stopped lisping when her teeth come out. I hope that sign of vampire maturity means she’ll grow up in other ways before too long. I also hope that the ghost Cathie goes away soon. I am confused about if Eric and Betsy just drink from each other, how that satisfies their thirst—seems like you’d need fresh blood in the system once in while at least—but there’s probably some special queen thing going on.

Undead and Unpopular, MaryJanice Davidson
This fifth book in the Betsy, queen of the vampires, series is the weakest yet. It’s a fast read and has a few fun moments, but nothing much happens and there are loose ends and random incidents galore. It’s more like a collection of soap opera episodes than a novel. Betsy was lisping again and being dense, and I wish she’d just grow up already. She doesn’t seem to have learned much at all in the year since she died; why is she not studying how to be a better vampire? She’s not even attentive to little non-vamp things, like the difference between knitting and crochet. It annoyed me in the last book when she confused the two; I’d hoped she’d have at least learned that tiny thing by now, especially since her best friend knits (or maybe crochets—it’s first person narration so because Betsy doesn’t know, I don’t know). Worst of all, there aren’t even any hot love scenes to distract me from how maddening Betsy is.

Dark Prince, Christine Feehan
This is the first book in the Carpathians series, which kept popping up in my Internet searches for more vampire novel recommendations. I was rather confused at first by the way the Carpathians drink blood and have a lot of other abilities (including turning into mist or one of a whole menagerie of animals) that seem rather vampiric yet they are not vampires—vampires are something else, something evil, and also something a Carpathian can turn into (after which the non-turned Carpathians hunt and kill them). These Carp-vamps are the most Dracula-like characters I’ve run into—living in modern times but still very old world and angsty and dramatic (some of them even wear capes). Fortunately, the tragedy and darkness are punctuated at frequent intervals by love scenes, though I did get a bit tired of the words “silk” and “slumberous”.

Dark Desire, Christine Feehan
This is the second in the Carpathians series. I didn’t like it as well as the first. The timeline confused me; I wasn’t prepared for a 25-year gap between books, and had no idea when this seond book was taking place relative to the short story that came with the first book (at least it came with the copy I have). Now that I’ve studied the reading order on the author’s website, it appears that the short story is from much later in the series, so that explains why there was no mention in this book of something that happened in the story even though the two events were related. Also, there’s a very creepy (in a bad way) sequence involving a fetus that really put me off. (Sorry if that was too much of a spoiler.)

Cravings, Laurell K. Hamilton, MaryJanice Davidson, Eileen Wilks, and Rebecca York
I thought about skipping Laurell K. Hamilton’s contribution to this anthology after I found out it’s an Anita Blake tale from far later in the timeline than I’m at with her (evidently it’s the first few chapters of book 12 and I’ve only just finished book 2), but I went ahead, figuring I was already spoiled for the series in general so what would a few specifics really hurt. Now that I’ve read it, I really understand the people who recommend stopping with book 10 or so. Anita is a mess in this story—she isn’t a good master, she isn’t a good slut, she isn’t a good anything near as I can see—and I don’t want to go there with her, but the first person narration gives me little choice. Also, this novel excerpt doesn’t work as a stand alone story, what with the non-ending. By contrast, the MaryJanice Davidson novella was really enjoyable. It’s set after Undead and Unwed and has the same sense of fun as that book did. The other two stories are not my usual taste in paranormals (i.e. they’re vampire-free) but I liked them, especially the one by Eileen Wilks with the nude mystery man.

Bite, Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, MaryJanice Davidson, Angela Knight, and Vickie Taylor
Another paranormal anthology. LKH: Eh. Anita is not as off putting in this one as she is in the other anthology, but that’s not really a feat. CH:I liked this, but wish this Sookie interlude could have just been incorporated in the last book instead of being a separate story in a separate book. MJD: This was my favorite of the collection. It’s got Betsy and Eric in it, but they’re not the main characters of the story so I didn’t feel like I was reading what should have been an Undead book. AK: Interesting take on the Knights of the Round Table and the author creates a fictional world that I liked thinking about even if I couldn’t quite accept it. VT: These vampires don’t have fangs but they’re plenty dark. All the typos kept taking me out of the story; at least I hope they were typos, because if the author really meant to say a character had a “tinkering” laugh I’m completely lost.

Guilty Pleasures, Laurell K. Hamilton
This is the first book in the Anita Blake, vampire hunter, series, which keeps coming up on people’s lists when I’m looking for vampire novel recommendations. I’ve heard the books start sliding into porn later on, but this one was not at all like that, just a kiss or two and that in the service of work. My exposure to the Buffy tv series is limited, but this book felt the most similar to that of all the vampire novels I’ve read so far. I was hesitant to try this series, because I like my vampires sympathetic, and if the heroine is killing them, how nice can they be, but I liked this enough that I’ll probably read more of them. Anita is interesting and, other than her insistence that women can’t find anything in their purses, not annoying.

The Laughing Corpse, Laurell K. Hamilton
This is the second in the Anita Blake series and was almost too gory for me to finish. There were lots of body parts and blood and not enough of vampire Jean Claude (this is really a zombie/voodoo book). I did like the ending; it didn’t go for the easy way out.

Dead as a Doornail, Charlaine Harris, read by Johanna Parker (A)
My first vampire mystery. I enjoyed it. I do wonder if this one spoiled an earlier one in the series—past events were referred to that sound interesting, but now I know how they turn out. I had a couple quibbles with the plot, perhaps due to my not understanding the world in which the action takes place. I bought the supernatural creatures, no problem, but thought Sookie could have availed herself of some vampire blood on certain occasions and it wasn’t even mentioned (despite a point being made of its effects earlier on).

Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
Book one in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I enjoyed it greatly, even though I knew a lot about how the story was going to go (thanks to listening to book five first because that’s what the library had). There were a couple of what appeared to me to be logical errors in the plot—a vampire out before it usually gets dark in the summertime, for instance—but maybe if I read it again I’ll pick up on the explanations that make these things make sense.

Living Dead in Dallas, Charlaine Harris
Book two in the series. I raced through this one, and it held a few more surprises for me than the first one, as it hadn’t been referred to in the fifth book quite as much.

Club Dead, Charlaine Harris
I think I might cry when I run out of new books in this series, I like them so well (even though I was spoiled for major plot points by not starting at the beginning).

Dead to the World, Charlaine Harris
So yeah, I didn’t do so well with saving the last unread Sookie Stackhouse that I had on hand. I really couldn’t—I knew this was the one where she and Eric … but I don’t want to spoil it for you.

Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris
Finally got my hands on the library copy of this latest Sookie Stackhouse book and finished it in less than 24 hours (even though for about 12 of those I was either sleeping or not at home). Obviously, I liked it, but it wasn’t quite as satisfying as the early books. It seemed a bit darker, and there are so many regular characters now that it’s hard to get enough time with any of them, especially the vampires.

Dead Witch Walking, Kim Harrison
Though this is mostly about the witch, there are vampires (of course not exactly the same sort that inhabit other books). There are hints of attraction but nothing that goes anywhere. There is some humor, including a situation involving a leprechaun early on that had me almost in tears I was laughing so hard, but most of it is of the black variety, which makes sense given that the main character is in danger much of the time. The plot really seems to set up the characters for a sequel.

A Girl’s Guide to Vampires, Katie MacAlister
I put this down after the introductory chapters which focused entirely on the annoying heroine and her almost as annoying friend. There was too much setup and foreshadowing for my taste. I only picked it back up again because I’d run out of other vampire books. The main problem with this vampire novel is a lack of vampires. There’s much talk about them—though not anything particularly informative, as the title might lead one to expect—and several men who might be one do show up eventually, but most of them turn out not to be vampires and the one that does is given rather short shrift. I was distracted throughout by wondering what the hero saw in the heroine—maybe if the book hadn’t been told in the first person from the heroine’s point of view I would have had a better shot at that. I’ve heard that this is somewhat of a spoof of a series I haven’t read yet (Feehan’s Carpathians, one of which is in my to be read pile), so maybe I’ll appreciate more later. I’ve also heard that the next vampire book by this author is better, but I’m not sure I’m ready to risk another heroine like this one.

Single White Vampire, Lynsay Sands
The emphasis is on romance in this paranormal romance. There are vampires—with yet another set of vampire rules for me to ponder—but the main plot is pure romance novel. There were several scenes that felt forced; I could have done without the codpiece episode and the psychic readings, in particular. I also think the hero could have been a bit smarter about his blood supply, but if he had been then we wouldn’t have the scene in the stall in the men’s room, so I guess that’s a fair trade.

Love Bites, Lynsay Sands
A light and fun vampire romance, perfect for reading on a holiday weekend. It’s set before the events of Single White Vampire (except for the epilogue, which overlaps SWV), but I didn’t feel like I was spoiled for this having read that one first (they were published in non-chronological order). I liked this one better than SWV; there were a couple of plot points I felt could have been elaborated on but better that than dragging stuff out too long the way a couple of things were in SWV.

A Quick Bite, Lynsay Sands
I really wish these Argeneau vampire romances had been written/published in the same order as they fit into the timeline. The events in this one take place before Love Bites. I didn’t like it as well as the other two, even judged by the standards of light romance. This seemed more contrived and cringe-worthy, with an overdose of family interference, embarrassing situations, and stupidity about blood supply. Maybe I just lack the patience to deal with baby vampires (the heroine is only 200 years old and surrounded by a passel of cousins that age or younger).

A Bite to Remember, Lynsay Sands
This Argeneau vampire romance had a mystery element to it as well. There was one scene that was a near copy of one in the first book, which was a little disappointing, but on the plus side I don’t remember any long drawn out forced comedic interludes, unlike the first book. I do wish this one had been hotter, like the first book.

Tall, Dark & Hungry, Lynsay Sands
Hmm, what happened to my resolution to read about vampires only every other book? Oh, I know—the interminable book about India happened. Anyway, this is another in the Argeneau series. I almost didn’t read this; I grabbed a later one off my to be read pile and it refers to the events in this book, and they didn’t sound familiar, so I checked this log and found I hadn’t read this one—I’d bought it but accidentally put it away in a box. As with the earlier ones in the series, this is a light vampire romance. This one seemed more ponderous than the first two; the formula shows a bit too much at times—the forced “comedic” situations, the big misunderstanding, the heroine fleeing—but I still found it enjoyable enough to finish.

How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire, Kerrelyn Sparks
This vampire romance made me smile when I started reading it. I was enjoying it a little less by the end, when the unlikely coincidences had started to pile up, I was sick of the hero saying “God’s blood!” whenever he was upset, and major issues were left unresolved (for a sequel, perhaps).

Bitten & Smitten, Michelle Rowan
Who knew I had such a craving for vampire romance? Not me. I got this based on a recommendation on a message board. The rules for vampires in this world are somewhat different than in Sookie’s world, which was a little confusing. It was enjoyable enough for fairly tame romantic fluff.

Dark Lover, J. R. Ward
I liked this a lot. It’s yet another vampire romance, true, but one with some real depth to it. The author has obviously spent much time thinking through the vampire world she’s created and included a glossary at the front to introduce some of the terms, which I found quite helpful. Several things struck me as less than ideal: the way the Black Dagger Brotherhood seems a bit like a group of WWE wrestlers—big men in leather strutting and posturing, the names straight off of a bad baby names list—like Rhage, Tohrment, Phury (and, oddly, Darius). But I soon got past those quibbles and just enjoyed the suspenseful plot and the hot sex. Though it was overall fairly dark (compared to the vampire fare I’ve been reading, that is—I’m sure there’s much, much darker stuff to be had), there were some touches of humor that worked well (like a Mary Sue joke that I hope was intentional because it indicates the author is very clever and will be able to keep me well entertained in future books).

Lover Eternal, J. R. Ward
This is the second book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and I ate it right up. I especially appreciated that the heroine isn’t a perfect physical specimen. I continue to have little interest in the bad guys and race through the sections about them to see what the vampires are going to do next. There’s a very neat connection with the first book—it took me a while to realize what was going on but when I did I thought it was just the coolest thing (of course I may be completely wrong, but the point is it got me thinking, which means it’s more than just another vampire novel)—and the groundwork for the third is clearly laid out here. It’s going to be a long wait until September for the next installment.

Lover Awakened, J. R. Ward
This is the darkest of the series so far, which is not surprising given which brother gets the spotlight this time. I liked it, but not as much first two. It’s hard to enjoy sex scenes when one partner has such a traumatic past in that area, for one thing. The emotional healing that takes place seemed too fast to be believable (I know, “believable” and vampires probably don’t belong together). The epilogue doesn’t answer some questions about the intervening time; maybe these will be covered in a future book via flashback but I hate waiting. The heroine, Bella, does have several really good scenes where she’s smart and strong.

You Must Have:
- 1/2 grapefruit or 4 ounce glass of unsweetened grapefruit juice at the start of each meal

You May Have:
- As much meat, fish, eggs, and plain cottage cheese as you like.
- Vegetables, also as much as you feel like eating except for sweet and starchy ones listed below.
- A little butter on vegetable, and/or sauteed meat, fish.
- Salt (but try not to use very much–retains water in body tissue).
- Bedtime snack of grapefruit juice, tomato juice, or skimmed milk.
- Up to two glasses of white wine a day.

You’re Forbidden:
- Fruit, except grapefruit and lemon.
- Whole milk, cheese (except for cottage), or cream.
- Sauces thickened with flour or eggs … and no high-calorie condiments (ketchup, mayonnaise, chili sauce, etc.). Clear sauces made with stock or bouillon and wine are okay.
- Corn and beets–both vegetables are high in sugar; corn is also high in starch.
- Pudding, rice, potaoes, bread, pasta–starch turns to fat awesomely fast.
- Alcoholic beverages other than wine.
- More than one cup of coffee or tea per meal. Cutting back on caffeine when you cut back on food helps you stay calm on a diet.
- No sugar whatsoever!

Ten Day Eat-as-Much-as-You-Wish Menu

All Days:

Breakfast
1/2 grapefruit or 4 ounces unsweetened grapefruit juice
2 eggs, any style
Tea with lemon or black coffee (optional)

Lunch
1/2 grapefruit or 4 ounces unsweetened grapefruit juice
Meat or fish, prepared as you wish–baked, broiled, grilled, sauteed, braised–as long as you avoid thick sauces
Green or raw vegetable salad, dressed with one tablespoon oil and one tablespoon vinegar (you may sprinkle in herbs)
Tea with lemon or black coffee (optional)

Dinner
1/2 grapefruit or 4 ounces unsweetened grapefruit juice
Meat or fish, again cooked as you like
Salad, dressed with one tablespoon oil and one tablespoon vinegar
Tea with lemon or black coffee (optional)

Bedtime
4 ounces grapefruit juice, tomato juice, or skim milk (optional)

(From the Daily Mirror Book of Successful Slimming, as excerpted in Cosmopolitan magazine, October, 1980.)