Bingeing — Blog

I'm on a bit of a reading binge -- of all the binges I engage it, it's the worst for my eyesight, but my hips are certainly happy that I'm choosing books over cupcakes. But since I just finished a manuscript of my own, I'm taking some time to make a dent in my to-be-read pile. The pile is more like a Hydra than a finite resource, and books that I've always meant to read somehow manage to spring up and replace anything I finish, but that is not such a bad problem to have. Here's a taste of what I've read and what I hope to read in April -- what am I missing?

Finished:

- Nora Roberts's Bride Quartet (starting with VISION IN WHITE). Borders's demise was my gain, since I got the whole quartet in trade paperback at 50% off, and I read them over the course of two days (I told you I was bingeing). They're sweet, utterly charming, and put me into the darkest despair over whether I will be able to write such wonderful stories consistently for the next three decades like Ms. Roberts has.

- Deanna Raybourn's SILENT IN THE GRAVE and SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY. These have been on my TBR pile for ages, ever since I got SANCTUARY for free at the '09 RWA conference, but it was her latest release (DARK ROAD TO DARJEELING) that finally prompted me to read them. I love India, so I can't wait to get to DARJEELING, but I was a good girl and went back to the beginning of the series first. These books are wonderful -- the Victorian mystery with strong romantic elements and a very slight tinge of paranormal is a nice break from what I usually read, and the heroine is great. Better, the hero is my favorite kind of brooding, enigmatic alpha male -- I very much recommend them (and him ;).

- Anne Stuart's RUTHLESS. This reminded me a lot of Georgette Heyer's THESE OLD SHADES, if Heyer had written sex scenes (which would have made her books the best romance novels in the history of the world). However, I can only recommend RUTHLESS if you have a secret fondness for the bad old romances of the '80s -- there's more kidnapping/coercion than one usually sees in modern romances. If you, like me, have a tattered collection of Johanna Lindsey books that you sometimes go to for comfort, you'll probably love this.

To Read:

- Homer's THE ODYSSEY. Okay, not so romantic. But my next book involves some ODYSSEY-like wandering, and I actually adore the translation by Robert Fagles that I linked to above. I read it all the way through a decade ago, and I'm excited to revisit it.

- Sarah MacLean's TEN WAYS TO BE ADORED WHILE LANDING A LORD. Another score from a bankrupt Borders; I loved her debut, and can't wait to read this one.

- Christina Dodd's TAKEN BY THE PRINCE. This is getting a lot of good buzz on Twitter and was recommended by a bookseller, so it's sitting on my shelf gathering dust until I get to it.

- Amanda Quick's ARCANE SOCIETY books. Her alter ego, Jayne Ann Krentz, is speaking at Kepler's Bookstore in Menlo Park on April 26, and since I devoured all of Amanda Quick's early books before somehow falling away from them, I'm eager to get back into her work before the talk.

What have you read recently? What are you planning to read? What should I add to my teetering TBR pile? Please share!