It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading This Week?

is a weekly event to celebrate what we are reading for the week as well as books completed the previous week. If you'd like to join in this event, please go to J. Kaye's and leave a link. That way others can find it and join in. Hosted by J. Kaye

I will be reading :

Cat Playing Cupid by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

I will be listening to:

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett(in the car)

Gate House by Nelson De Mille(iPod)

Last week I finished:

King Rat by China Mieville

The Winter Queen by Amanda McCabe

First Challenge of the Year Completed

That's right! I finished my first Challenge for the year: the NaJuReMoNoMo Challenge at FOMA. I read 12 novels this month as well as one short book of poetry. The poetry, of course, didn't count for this challenge. It's been a fun reading month and a great kick off for the year! Hope your reading has been fun.

100 Favorites

As I have been cruising the Internet reading about, what else, books, I've run across several Top 100 lists. Time Magazine has one. Erica Jong has one. USA Today has one. As does Modern Library, Teachers First, Newsweek, College Board, & The Best 100 List. AAR, Goodreads Best Romance, I thought it would be fun to list some of the novels I have truly enjoyed over the years. There are a few classics on this list, but mostly it is just a list of books I have enjoyed, fun reads, stories that made me feel. I would love to see other's lists. We all have our own favorites. Join me, let's see a list of your top 100 favorite reads.

My list is in no particular order, I will just place them there as I think of them. This list is subject to change as the years roll on.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. The Shepherd of the Hills by Harold Bell Right
3 The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
4 The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
5 Watership Down by Richard Adams
6 The Ship WhoSang by Anne McCaffery
7 In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead by James Lee Burke
8 The Ice Limit by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
9 The Cabinet of Curiosities By Preston and Child
10 The Green Mile by Stephen King
11 The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
12 Big Trouble by Dave Berry
13 Beloved by Toni Morrison
14 A kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught
15 One For the Money by Janet Evanovich
16 Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich
17 The BonesettersDaughter by Amy Tan
18 The Truth by Terry Pratchett
19 A Knight in shining Armor by Jude Deveraux
20 Triggerfish Twist by Tim dorsey
21 The Stand by Stephen King
22 Lucky You by Carl Hiaasen
23 The Call of the Wild by Jack London
24 Lord of the Far island by Victoria Holt
25 Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart
26 Death Trap by Sue Henry
27 Neither Five Nor Three by Helen MacInnes
28 The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
29 Flashback by Nevada Barr
30 When Elephants Weep by Jeffery Moussaiff Masson (nonfiction)
31 Thr3e by Ted Dekker
32 Murder Boogies With Elvis by Anne George
33 The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
34 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
35 Mr. Posterior and the Genius Child by Emily Jenkins
36 Flat Crazy by Ben Rehder
37 Mission Road by Rick Riordan
38 The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King
39 The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kid
40 The Amber Room by Steve Berry
41 Watchers by Dean Koontz
42Lightening by Dean Koontz
43 The Road by Cormac McCarthy
44 Bitsy's Bait and BBQ by Pamela Morsi
45 Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann burns
46 The Kite runner by Khaled Hosseini
47 The Lord of the Rings byJRR Tolkien
48 The Red Tent by Anita Diamanti
49 The Concubines Tattoo by Laura Joh Rowland
50 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
51 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
52 Tortilla flat by John Steinbeck
53 Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
54 Animal Farm by George Orwell
55 Where the Heart is by Billie Letts
56 Dune by Frank Herbert
57 House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus
58 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
59 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
60 Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
61 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
62 The Lost City of Z - David Grann
63 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
64 Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
65 Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank by Celia Rivenbark
66 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
67 Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
68 Medicus by Ruth Downie
69 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Philip Dick
70 Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez
71 Heart of Darkness by Joseph conrad
72 The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
73 Something Wicked This Way comes by Ray Bradbuy
74 The Help by Kathryn Stockett
75 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
76 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt (nonfiction)
77 Thanks For the Memories by Cecelia Ahern
78 Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson
79 Night by Elie Wiesel (nonfiction)
80 Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (nonfiction)
81 Brewster's Millions by George Barr McCutcheon
82 Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna andrews
83 The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
84 Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
85 Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot (poems)
86 Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
87 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
88 Angelwalk Roger Elwood
89 Christy by Catherine Marshall
90 Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
91 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mark Haddon
92 Mossflower by Brian Jacques
93 Jamaica Inn by Daphne DuMaurier
94 The Wild Road by Gabriel King
96 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
97 Faking It by Jennifer Crusie
98 The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde
99 Rascal by Sterling North
100 The White Dragon by Anne McCaffery

An Award

Look at the cool award I received from Teddyree at The Eclectic Reader! She said

"I'm passing this one to the top commenters on my blog at the time of this post. Thanks so much your comments mean a lot!"

Thanks Teddree!

What Are You Reading on Monday? & Mailbox Monday

It's Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? is a weekly event to celebrate what we are reading for the week as well as books completed the previous week. If you'd like to join in this event, please go to J. Kaye's and leave a link. That way others can find it and join in. Hosted by J. Kaye


I will be reading :
King Rat by China Mieville

I will be listening to:
Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett(in the car)
Gate House by Nelson De Mille(iPod)

Last week I finished:
Web of the Witch World by Andre Norton
Psych: Mind Over Magic by William Rabkin
Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett (iPod)

Mailbox MondayMailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do).Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. Mailbox Monday is hosted by The Printed Page.

This week I received an audio book that I won from J. Kayes Book Blog! Thanks J. Kaye, this will be a great read. Or listen.
It is:
Void Moon by Michael Connelly

Over the Whispernet (free):
Southern Storm by Terri Blackstock
Cape Refuge by Terri Blackstock

In the mail:
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan (from my wish list)
More then Fiends by Maureen Child (from my wish list)
Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding (impulse buy)

Swapping Books Online - Help!

Bookmooch, Paperback Swap. Do you use one of these to trade books? Or another similar service? Which one do you like? Why? Which one do you like least? Why?

I usually trade at used book stores, but thought I might give one of these a try. Thanks for any thoughts you might have.

What Are You Reading? & Mailbox Monday

It's Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? is a weekly event to celebrate what we are reading for the week as well as books completed the previous week. If you'd like to join in this event, please go to J. Kaye's and leave a link. That way others can find it and join in. Hosted by J. Kaye

I will be reading :
Web of the Witch World by Andre Norton
Psych: Mind Over Magic by William Rabkin


I will be listening to:
Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett(in the car)
The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett(iPod)

Last week I finished:
Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot
Cat Striking Back by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Gone for Good by Harlan Coben

Mailbox Monday
Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do).Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. Mailbox Monday is hosted by The Printed Page.

This week I received a book that I won from J. Kayes Book Blog! Thanks J. Kaye, this looks like a fun book. It is:
Critters of Mossy Creek by Smith, Dixon, Chastain & Crockett


Happy reading everyone!

What Are You Reading on Monday? & Mailbox Monday

It's Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? is a weekly event to celebrate what we are reading for the week as well as books completed the previous week.Feel free to pile on a little extra. If you'd like to join in this weekly event, please go to J. Kaye's and leave a link. That way others can find it and join in. Hosted by J. Kaye

I will be reading :

Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck (almost finished now)

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot

Cat Striking Back by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

This Week I'm listening to:

Gone for Good by Harlen Coben(in the car)

The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett(iPod)

Last week I finished:

Elvis and the Dearly Departed by Peggy Webb

Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck

Ravenheart by David Gemmell

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do).Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. Mailbox Monday is hosted by The Printed Page.

Over the Whispernet I got these for my Kindle:

The Shunning by Beverly Lewis

Leslie Sansone's Eat Smart, Walk Strong

Happy reading everyone!

What Are You Reading on Monday? & Mailbox Monday

What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? is a weekly event to celebrate what we are reading for the week as well as books completed the previous week.Feel free to pile on a little extra.If you'd like to join in this weekly event, please go to J. Kaye's and leave a link. That way others can find it and join in. Hosted by J. Kaye

I will be reading :
Elvis and the Dearly Departed by Peggy Webb
Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
Ravenheart by David Gemmell

This Week I'm listening to:
Sandstorm by James Rollings (in the car)
In the Woods by Tana French (iPod)

Last week I finished:
A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do).Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. Mailbox Monday is hosted by The Printed Page.

Over the Whispernet I got these for my Kindle:
The Sweetness At the Bottom of the Pie by Alex Bradley
Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
Dead Man Talking by Casey Daniels
The above were a present from a dear friend.

.99 Kindle deals:
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Long Before Dawn by James V. Viscosi

Happy reading everyone!

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: You Shook Me

HODGEPODGESPV has encouraged me to join this meme again this week. Please join if you would like. Click on the title for the home of Saturday 9.

1. What celebrity would you just want to shake some sense into?
Sports figures who are hailed as heroes and role models that do everything from rape to theft to adultry and drugs.

2. What do you think comes after death?
Heaven or......

3. What is the first book that you can remember reading by yourself as a child?
The Yearling is the first book I remember the name of, the first book I remember choosing to read.

4. What was the first rock concert that you attended?
Earth, Wind, and Fire, my senior year in HS back in 1971.

5. If you were to suddenly become famous, would you choose a stage name? If yes, what would it be? NO

6. What is the one thing that you wish the media would stop talking about?
Celebrety marriages, break-ups, affairs etc.....

7. If you could be part of any band, which one would it be and who would you be and why?
I wouldn't want to be in a band but if I had to be part of a group it would be Celtic Woman. They are so beautiful, with wonderful voices.

8. Do you live close to your immediate family members? No, my dad lives about an hour away in Van, my brother in Austin, my sister in Kansas (about a 10 hr drive from here, 2 hours SE of Dallas, TX)

9. Last seasonal question (promise): What did you do on New Year's Eve?
Spent it with friends, an annual get together for us.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

Rating System

I've read several posts and comments lately about rating systems and it seems that people like a rating on the reviews they read. Therefore I have created one for my reviews which are here. I don't like to be critical of an author's work (I could never write and be published) so this rating system reflects only my feelings about on a book. Others may feel differently. Isn't it great to have such diversity in the choices of reading materieals we have?

Excellent. I liked everything about this book. This story grabbed me and kept me reading. I cared about the characters or really disliked the bad guy. I believe that you would enjoy it regardless of genre. Probably a keeper. Go get it.


A very good read, I really liked this story a lot, outstanding in some way. Check it out. Couldn't put it down.



This is a good read. Enjoyable and/or interesting. May be slow in some places or have some other flaw, but over all I quite liked it. Recommendation may be genre specific. If you like this genre you would probably like this book.



Eh. Average - so so. Go to the library and check it out.




D is for disappointing for some reason. Struggled through it.




I didn't like this book very much but I finished it anyway. Why? Probably because I paid for it. Not Recommended.



Did Not finish. Enough said.