Eraine's 2008 Readathon

Hi, I'm Eraine, and I just learned I'm pregnant. Reading more was one of my new year's resolutions, and I've been doing pretty well so far. Now, I'm adding a ton of pregnancy and parenting books to my list.

Books read already:

(1) S is for Silence - good, easy read. I used to read her books a long time ago, and I lost track of where I was in the alphabet... I'm pretty sure I never read Q or R, so I may go back and read those, plus I just saw T at B&N and have ordered it from my library.

(2) Lean Mean Thirteen - another quick, easy, fun mystery. I think this might have been my favorite so far.

(3) Monday Mourning - I picked up a few Kathy Reichs books at a used book store over the holidays because I love the TV show Bones. The books, so far, are a little disappointing. I miss the quirky side characters from the TV show.

Congratulations! You better get your reading in soon!

Congratulations on your pregnancy! I read a LOT when I was pregnant with my first. Good luck.

Thanks for all the encouragement!

(4) The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy - I couldn't help but feel that I needed a good laugh about all of this before I tackled the big pregnancy books. This book was perfect -- I laughed so hard my husband kept giving me weird looks and even tried to read over my shoulder.

Persevere with Kathy Reichs, eraine. I had just the opposite experience from you. I'd long been a fan of the books (mainly from reading my mum's copies of the early ones) and it took me a while to get into the TV series because it was so different.

Good luck with your pregnancy.

I am continuing to read Reichs, don't worry. The books are good, I just miss the characters from the DC lab (in Bones).

(5) Cross Bones - another Reichs, this one kinda DaVinci Codish, less thrilling but better quality.

(6) The Serial Killers Club - by Jeff Povey, I picked this one up off the new fiction wall at my library. It promised to be dark and funny, so I was imagining something a little like Chuck Palahniuk -- it was a little disappointing, I guess. Not that funny, and also strangely not that dark -- kind of a light read about serial killers, if you can imagine that.

(7) Break No Bones - another Reichs book but not in Montreal this time. More engaging and surprising than some of her others that I've read.

(8) What to Expect: Eating Well When You're Expecting - eh, not the best read ever. The recipes were pretty ho hum, and the nutrition advice was a long, drawn-out version of the same info I've already read in a dozen other pregnancy books.

(9) Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich - I'm embarrassed to love these so much, but they really make me laugh. And there are times when you just really need to indulge. I've had the flu all week and have been confined to my bed -- it was great to whip through a book in a couple hours and laugh the entire time.

(10) Bones to Ashes - Another Kathy Reichs book, I really liked this one... probably my favorite so far.

(11) T is for Trespass - This novel promised to be her darkest so far, but I have to say it wasn't really that dark. I liked that she played around with point-of-view, but I didn't feel that she gave her readers many insights into the motivations of her serial killer.

I had also been reading a lot of pregnancy books, but my husband and I lost our baby last week. It's nothing I really want to write about, but some of the books I had been reading include:

I'm Pregnant! - lots of lovely pictures of the developing baby, and some good tips for expectant mothers.

What to Expect When You're Expecting - I picked this one up mostly because every pregnant woman seems to read it. The information was good.

Exercising Through Your Pregnancy - super, super boring, and probably outdated. I'll skip this one next time around.

Eraine, I am sorry for your loss.

Eraine, I am so sorry. Take care, Erin

Thanks for the kind thoughts! We're doing much better now, and the reading has been great at focusing my mind on other things.

(12) Deadly Decisions - another Kathy Reichs book. I feel I must be reading these all out of order, but they're good, fun reads and the characters are growing on me. This one was about biker gangs in Canada.

(13) The Appeal - John Grisham book about the appeal of a large-verdict personal injury case.

(14) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - I absolutely loved this book. It starts out as a murder mystery being solved by an autistic adolescent, but evolved into a much more rich story about the boy and his family. Not the kind of thing I would normally pick out for myself -- I found it on a used book cart in the ferry building in San Francisco -- I'm still thrilled to have read this and can't wait to recommend it to others.

It is rather wonderful, isn't it. Christopher really sneaks into your heart.