Reading Journal ... the week past

Time to catch up and review the past week. I finished two books and started a third. Not bad when it feels like I spend more time blogging than I do reading these days. Now that it's nice in Boise, actually hot ~ 95 right now, I take the furbabies outside and spend time doing a little of both.

I finished two books I would consider womens' fiction: The Richest Season by Maryann McFadden. I received this book through the Early Reviewers program at Librarything. This a debut author and I really enjoyed her work. My thoughts and impressions can be found here. The other book I finished this week is Barbara Delinsky's newest, The Secret Between Us. While I usually associate her with romance not so for this book. My thoughts and impressions can be found here. The Richest Season was a printed book and The Secret Between Us I read on my Kindle. Because I now own (1 month old) and love my Amazon Kindle I find myself having a hard time putting it down and picking up and reading a printed book. Being a dead hard bookaholic I thought I'd have a hard time adjusting but not so. Actually I find I'd much rather read on my Kindle than a printed book. Strange as that might seem it's true.

The third book I started this week is a non-fiction account of the life of Marie Antoinette's daughter. I received Marie-Therese, Child of Terror: The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter by Susan Nagel from Authors On The Web. I thought this book might be a slow, dry read as it's non-fiction. I'm happy to say not so. It very much reads like a narrative story of her life and I find myself fascinated by this woman. The first part covers her childhood up her family's imprisonment, the death of her parents and brother, and her continued imprisonment for the next 3 years. The second half, which I'm currently reading, covers her life after her release. She is a remarkable woman.

I'm not sure where my reading adventures will take me this week. Once Marie-Therese, Child of Terror: The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter is finished I don't have anything lined up. Not to say the downloaded book samples and saved for later list on the Kindle don't hold anything of interest, they do, just not sure whether it will be more historical fiction, maybe a cozy mystery, a travelogue, or something totally different. I'm also waiting for the mailman to deliver, hopefully, some of the many ARCs/AREs I've signed up for through Shelf Awareness. Got to love free books and I always promise to read and review in a timely fashion. I move any ARCs/AREs received to the top of my reading list. I believe that if a publisher is offering me a free book the least I can do is read and offer my thoughts & impressions in return.

Speaking of free books I've noticed that my book buying habit has improved greatly since buying my Kindle. It's actually saving me money! Costco had many, many books that I would have bought today, on the spot, but having a Kindle and being able to download book samples at no cost is saving me from buy books that sound interesting but actually turn out not to be or the writing style doesn't appeal. So no more monstrous TRB piles staring me down, calling my name and haunting me.

I also spend time every day working on my labor of love, the book giveaway and contest site, Up For Grabs. It's a bit slow going but seems to be gaining some momentum.

That's it for today. Back to reading...