Reading List

Hi, all!

As those of you who hang out on Facebook already know, I just emerged from a massive deadline crunch (more about that later). One of the things I am most looking forward to (aside from chopping off my split ends this afternoon so that I no longer look like a refugee from the more obscure sort of French fortress, complete with pet rat) is finally catching up on some leisure reading as I take this weekend off to veg, veg, veg. And read, read, read.

Here’s my current weekend line-up, in no particular order:

— Tasha Alexander, Tears of Pearl
— Julia Spencer-Fleming, To Darkness and to Death
— Meredith Duran, Written on Your Skin
— Susan Holloway Scott, The French Mistress: A Novel of the Duchess of Portsmouth

I’m also dying to read Michelle Moran’s Cleopatra’s Daughter, but that’s not officially out until Tuesday, so it may have to wait, depending on how precise my local booksellers are being about shelving.

Before I hit the bookstore, does anyone have any other suggestions for my reading binge?

Oh, and I’m also planning to post a mini-contest here on the News page on Monday, so stay tuned! Now that the writing frenzy has passed, I should be popping up here a lot more.

20 Comments

  1. Rebecca on September 10, 2009 at 2:48 pm

    I just reserved “Tears of Pearl” at the library — I can’t wait to read it! I love, love, LOVE, that series.

    I also just started “Murder at Longbourn,” by Tracy Kiely, and so far I really like it. Here’s a description —
    http://www.amazon.com/Murder-at-Longbourn-Tracy-Kiely/dp/0312537565/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252608495&sr=8-1

    Happy Reading!

  2. Lauren T on September 10, 2009 at 5:59 pm

    I won’t give anything away. . . but I just finished Tears of Pearl, and it lived up the precedent set by the rest of the series. Very good!!

    Not sure if you are into the Steve Berry style of books. . . but I am currently reading The Lost Throne by Chris Zuzneski. Very easy to get hooked into. That and the Sebastian St. Cyr series by C.S. Harris. Another addictive series, though not as much as yours 🙂

  3. Jessica S. on September 10, 2009 at 6:09 pm

    Hmmm…imprecise in shelving new books…this happened at my local Border’s when Night Jasmine came out…I had to get cranky on them, and spell “Willig” fifteen times!

  4. Gina on September 10, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    I don’t know if you read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, but it is really amazing. And the sequel, Catching Fire, came out about a week ago….. 😀

    ~Gina

  5. Elizabeth aka Miss Eliza on September 10, 2009 at 11:16 pm

    I loved the Hunger Games and Catching Fire, and as for Cleopatra’s Daughter, I’m giving a copy away on my blog thank’s to Michelle Moran! http://strange-and-random-happenstance.blogspot.com/2009/09/michelle-moran-week.html

    Other than that I’ve been reading North and South, oh I love it! Wish I had more time to read. Also for an absurdly fast read but one of the best books I’ve read in years, Alan Bennett’s An Uncommon Reader!

  6. Kristen on September 11, 2009 at 8:41 am

    I’ve been rereading all of my dad’s old Louis L’Amour & John Jakes books, so I’m afriad I can’t offer too many suggestions.

    But I did want to post and say that I’m glad you get a break, and I’m even more glad that there will be a contest coming. 🙂

  7. Kat on September 11, 2009 at 10:56 am

    I’ve just read Ariana Franklin’s three books–Mistress of the Art of Death, The Serpent’s Tale and Grave Goods. They are SO GOOD.

  8. Lauren on September 11, 2009 at 11:28 am

    Thanks for all the wonderful recommendations! I have to admit, I do feel like I’ve been living in a rabbit hole– I don’t recognize half of these!

    Rebecca, I LOVE the sound of “Murder at Longbourne”. The book I just finished writing had Jane Austen as a character, so a Jane Austen themed contemporary mystery sounds like the best possible way to ease back into modern life….

  9. Kristen on September 11, 2009 at 12:40 pm

    Oh Kat- I LOVE those books! I just got Grave Goods today at lunch and I can’t wait to get home and get to it!

  10. Ashley on September 11, 2009 at 12:50 pm

    Does anyone know the name of a series of books based on an apprentice to a wax maker, think Madame Tussaud’s, and set in France/England during the Revolution? It sounded like a great series of books but I misplaced the title and author! I hate when I do that…

  11. Lauren on September 11, 2009 at 12:53 pm

    You might be thinking about Christine Trent’s series, “The Queen’s Dollmaker” and “The Wax Apprentice”: http://christinetrent.com/books.html

  12. Lora on September 13, 2009 at 5:28 pm

    The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson!

    btw I just finished Night Jasmine this weekend and YOU ROCK!

  13. Liz on September 13, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    I’ve been reading quite a few of the books you had on your Fav Books list , while waiting for the newest Pink book to be released, and have become obsessed with Lisa Kleypas’s Wallflower series (if you haven’t read all of them, you definately should!). Also, The Time Traveler’s Wife was a great book (better than the movie). Keep up the great work!!

  14. Lauren on September 13, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    Liz, I love those, too! My favorites are “Secrets of a Summer Night” (there’s something almost Rhett Butler-ish about the hero) and “Devil in Winter”. Have you tried “Suddenly You”? It’s one of Kleypas’ pre-Wallflower books. Her recent contemporaries, “Sugar Daddy”, et al, are also excellent.

  15. Lauren on September 13, 2009 at 7:23 pm

    p.s. so glad the Favorites list has come in handy!

  16. Lauren on September 13, 2009 at 7:26 pm

    Thanks, Lora!!! And is that a new Ibbotson? Much excitement.

  17. Liz on September 13, 2009 at 8:11 pm

    Lauren, I agree with you that her contemporaries are great too. I just bought Suddenly You and Again the Magic (the one with Westcliff and his sisters, pre-Wallflowers) but haven’t had a chance to get to them yet. We have quite similar taste in books because each book that I’ve read from that list has made me stay up late just to find out what happens at the end! Hope you had a great weekend!

  18. SandyH on September 13, 2009 at 8:27 pm

    I just finished The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick. It is the story of William Marshall, the greatest knight of the Middle Ages. Unsurpassed in the tourneys, he lives in the dangerous world of Angevin politics (Henry II, Eleanor of Acquitine, Henry the Young King, Richard the Lionhearted and King John) to become one of the most powerful magnates of the realm and eventually regent of England. There is a second book which I have ordered called The Scarlet Lion.

  19. Abby on September 13, 2009 at 10:33 pm

    What about reading “Maid of Honor Handbook: Duties, Details, and Delights”
    by Melinda Meier? 🙂

  20. Lauren on September 13, 2009 at 10:47 pm

    Should I be nervous that she put “delights” last? Hmmm….

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