Reading Log, November 2011

This was NOT a heavy reading month - life has been busy, and I have relaxed with some fun, light mysteries.  Some months are like that.  I think my resolution for 2012 will be to read at least one "deep thinking" book a month.  But sometimes, I just need some brain candy.  In any event, here is the list for November!

67. Naughty in Nice: A Royal Spyness Mystery – 4.5 – Rhys Bowen – oh, this was a fun one! This is a pretty basic “cozy” mystery series. Lady Georgianna is 34th in line to the throne of England in the early 1930s. She is impoverished, but still part of the royal family and expected to live as such. Fun series, no deep thought involved, but a nice little escape.


68. Snobbery With Violence: An Edwardian Murder Mystery – 4 – Marion Chesney. This is M.C. Beaton, who writes my favorite mysteries, Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth. This series takes place in Edwardian England and focuses on Lady Rose Summer, a member of the aristocracy who has been disgraced by her support of the sufferagettes; Captain Harry Cathcart who takes care of private investigations (unpleasantness) for the aristocracy and their servants, Becket and Daisy. Again, no deep thought, but Chesney really makes her characters come to life. They are all so flawed, one minute you are rooting for them, one minute you want to smack them. Another cozy mystery.

69. The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party – 3.5- Alexander Smith McCall – next in the No. 1 Ladies Detective series. Not one of the better ones, but still a pleasant, easy read with characters you’ve become comfortable and familiar with.

70. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – 4 – JK Rowling – read this aloud to the older boys. I read this years ago, when it first came out. The guys loved it, and we are reading the rest of the series, and watching the movies AFTER we finish each book.

71. The Wizard of Oz – 4- Frank L. Blum – the classic, read this aloud to my younger boys. I read this many times as a child, and also read it to my older boys years ago. It was fun to read this, then watch the movie, and see how much was changed and left out! You know Dorothy’s slippers are really silver, don’t you??

72. One of Our Thursdays is Missing – 2.5 – Jasper Fforde – blech. I loved the first five books (some more than others) but this was a jumbled mess. It took me over a week to read – I kept going, thinking I would get to the good part. The last twenty pages or so, when it was all wrapped up were good. The rest of it…again, blech.

73. Hasty Death: An Edwardian Murder Mystery – 4 – Marion Chesney – 2nd book in the Lady Rose Summer/Captain Harry Cathcart series. Same as the first, though I enjoyed it more as the characters develop and become more familiar.