Summer time reading is mysteries

I don't know about you, Gentle Reader, but this is a very warm summer where we are in Ottawa. Certainly the warmest for at least 3 years. We had a heat wave at the beginning of the month, which is over now. The temperatures have to reach 90F for three days in a row to be declared a heat wave. We have been hitting the mid-80's for the past several days. Today it's 88F and all the fans are running. What's a girl to do in the heat but......READ. It's bliss, pure bliss, to be so hot that all I can do is read.

I have discovered that this summer, I want to read mysteries. In January, I had set my goal of reading 50 mysteries this year, and after my abysmal reading in May (one book!!) I've been more determined to get reading. I've read 7 mysteries since May 30, 15 books in total since May 30. 20 mysteries in total this year. Almost half-way there! I have two shelves full of mysteries waiting to be read, series I want to catch up in, new series to start. There are so many mystery series out there, the field has exploded in the past twenty years. My local Chapters store has 5 long shelves devoted solely to mysteries - the middle of the floor shelves, that pack a lot of books in them. So I thought I'd ask you, my dear readers, and try to answer myself, this question: what makes a mystery worth reading? How do you find the series that you love?

Things I Look For in Mysteries

- layered plot
-intelligent hero/heroine, cast of characters
-well-written
-clues sprinkled throughout
- sense of morality
- asks why
- the crimes have repercussions experienced through following the victims too. so we see the cost in human terms, and we see the ripple effects in the community.

How do I find mysteries to read?
I mostly find my books through browsing in stores, reading reviews from various sources, and you, my dear book bloggers. You have brought me Susan Hill (I wasn't aware really of this series before), Martin Edwards, Elly Griffiths (still to be reviewed, very good first mystery), Jo Nesbo, Peter Lovesey, Christopher Fowler........My mother is a big source, as are my friends who read mysteries. I'm always looking for a new series to read, new detectives to bond with.

The five series I'm going to talk about are ones I've been reading this summer.

Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler series, Graham Hurley's DI Joe Faraday series, Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series, Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache series, and Martin Edward's DCI Hannah Scarlett series. These are all police procedurals. I've realized that I am attracted to the search for justice within the police services. In real life, men and women who join the police do so usually because they want to protect, to defend, and to solve mysteries. The detectives in mysteries represent the same ideals, I think. Each author brings something different to the their detectives and to the themes or issues they are interested in exploring.

Susan Hill: Like PD James' Adam Dalgleish, Simon Serrailler has a secret other life: he is a painter. He goes away on breaks to his hideaways and sketches, that he develops later into paintings. It sounds faintly ludicrous, that a DCI could be an artist as well as chief Inspector, but in Susan Hill's hands, it more than works. It is thrilling and like with Dalgleish's poetry, I really wish I could see Serrailer's art! I think that because Simon is at some remove from his detective work - he enjoys it, is passionate about finding the killers and bringing closure to cases - that, also like Adam, neither are defined solely by their police work. They bring a detachment that allows them to view colleagues and the crimes with intelligence unmarred by political ambition. It is also a way for them to hang on to their souls when faced with the hideous crimes and actions they witness every day.

I really like the Simon Serrailler mysteries. They are quite addictive. I have to know more about Simon and his twin sister Cat Deerborn, who is a GP and happily married to another GP. Their house is another sanctuary for Simon, who is single. They are actually part of a set of triplets, but the third child, Ivo, is in Australia and so far (end of book three) we haven't met him yet. There is a deep sense of humanity in the Simon Serrailer mysteries. The crimes, when they occur, are sometimes terrible. Hill is good at depicting all the characters involved in each mystery, all the secondary characters and their inner lives, and how the crimes affect them. I find this fascinating. The killer in books 2 and 3 is an amazing portrait of a psychopath. I can't recommend this series enough. The first three books I've read so far - and if you note, Book 2 and Book Three do follow on one another, so this series should be read in order.
The Various Haunts of Men (read and reviewed last year **can't find it, still looking)
The Pure in Heart - 5/5
The Risks of Darkness - 5/5

Graham Hurley - DI Joe Faraday is a widower raising a deaf son. He is also a bird-watcher, and the first book in the series, Turnstone, takes its name from one of the many birds that live on the shores of the beaches around Portsmouth, where this series takes place. It's how he gets away from it all, when he needs to. It's interesting that in today's crime novel, detectives need to have some interest away from work, in order to keep their sanity. Something to balance the horror.

Faraday is set up against DC Paul Winter, who is a lone wolf in the detective force. Winter sets his own rules, and has directly wrecked one of Faraday's investigations in revenge for trying to reel him in. In the Portsmouth police force, there is as much betrayal within the police department as without. Most of all though, is Joe Faraday, who still makes the effort to connect to the people affected by the crimes, and through whose eyes Portsmouth the ancient port, once proud Naval bastion of England, comes to grips with grim, modern life. It's not a pretty city, but it does have its places of charm and beauty, despite the rampant crime the police face. This is a nitty-gritty police series, where every step of the investigation is detailed, and it's fascinating and gripping. There are 10 books in the series now, I've read three:
Turnstone
The Take
Angels Passing 4.5/5

Louise Penny: Inspector Gamache is from the Surete Du Quebec, the provincial police force called out on major crimes. The first three books are centered around Three Pines, which for a tiny village has alot of serious crime! Three Pines is so beautiful and cosy that everyone who reads about it wants to move there, myself included. It's not a real place, but is set in the real countryside of Quebec.

Inspector Gamache himself is unusual - quiet, charming, intelligent, and very, very observant. He also has a team of detectives under him, and pulled from nearby forces for local knowledge and help, that come with him when he goes out on cases. Over the three books I've read so far in the series, we've seen Gamache fight for his life with both the criminals and from betrayal within his force. He is so good at his job that he has incurred much jealousy, and in the third book, The Cruellest Month, it comes to a head. How Gamache escapes, and how a seance features, makes for a very creepy ending. The Cruellest Month was very good. Gamache's team are interesting because they vary from novices to experienced detectives, so we get a range of what working on an investigation - and the mistakes made - as well as the leaps of intuition that Penny has so skillfully written that we feel brilliant too, reading these books. Very, very entertaining. Penny is my personal favourite of our Canadian mystery writers.
All three of her books that I read, are linked in the post I did on Louise Penny last fall:
Still Life
Dead Cold
The Cruellest Month

Martin Edwards: DCI Hannah Scarlett heads up the newly formed Cold Case Review Team in England's beautiful Lake District. Aiding her is Daniel Kind, son of Scarlett's former detective partner, Ben Kind. When the series opens, Daniel comes to the Lake District in an effort to understand a little bit about his recently dead father, and ends up buying a cottage and staying with his girlfriend. As he gets to know the locals, he often investigates on his own initiative, though by The Cipher Gardens, the second book, both Hannah and Daniel are beginning to be aware they are attracted to one another. DCI Scarlett views her position on the Cold Case team as a setback, a punishment for failing on a big case before the series opens. She wants to get back to the real work, in the serious crimes division, but has realized that Cold Cases have their own satisfaction when they are solved.

Hannah Scarlett is interesting and I almost wish we could have more of her. I like her personal struggles as well as her professional ones. She is not a detective who has it all together, but because of this, we get to see her learn about herself as well as her team and the part of the Lake District she lives in. Daniel Kind is a fun character. He is a historian, which in the books they make comparisons to being a detective. Because these are cold cases, of course Daniel is used to questioning and looking for clues in historical facts and stories, and he easily slides into finding local knowledge, though not without some personal risk to himself. It's going to be interesting to see how this relationship develops. There is danger of course, as secrets long held are finally exposed. I'm really enjoying watching the Cold Case team decide if they should follow anonymous tips or letters received about old unsolved crimes or not. I've read two out of the existing 5 books in the series so far.
They are:
The Coffin Trail (read and reviewed earlier)
The Cipher Garden 5/5

The others are on my shelf, waiting their turn to be read this hot summer!

Jo Nesbo: You all know from my previous reviews (see links just below) how much I love Harry Hole. He's the detective I've fallen in love with. He is the loner here, the wild card, the one who goes off on his own, protected by his immediate boss when he would be thrown out of the force - mostly for insubordination, and not always telling his bosses exactly what he's doing until he's done it. But he gets results, almost always because Harry is persistent. Dogged. Determined. Heroic in the best sense of the word. Certainly not angelic and brings about his own problems. I love how he wants the truth, no matter how much it costs.
The Redbreast
Nemesis

All the above detectives wonder at times what they are doing in the police force, and that the job isn't what it used to be. There is a melancholy about these detectives as they fight their often lonely battle against crime, against criminals who don't care they are breaking the law, and often battle elements within the police force itself - pointless paperwork and staying within the law.

Mostly, these characters have become characters I care about, revealing the world we live in, often standing between us and the darkness that crime threatens to pull us all into. All of these books are very well-written, gripping adventures, heart-breaking in places, with excellent characters and interesting stories to tell. I have the next books in all the series lined up on my shelves to be read shortly. It seems to be a mystery reading summer for me.

What are you reading this summer? Is it unusual for you to be reading what you're reading, or do you have a normal summer fling - beach read - that you reach for when the temperature is hot and all you can do is read? Where you are, have you found you've been doing more reading or less, in our above-average hot summer?

Last World Cup 2010 thoughts, it's hard when you have players on both sides.....

My heart is breaking. How is it possible to be happy that one team one won and so sad that the other lost? For sure half of my heart was with Spain, who had never made it this far in the World Cup before, who feature the wonderful Cesc Fabregas, already one of the best midfielders in the world and captain of my beloved Arsenal club. I'm such a huge fan of his and love watching him play. So I knew if they won, it would cement his skill and leadership qualities even further. He set up the winning goal! I was so happy to see Cesc lift the Cup, I am truly thrilled for him and for the Spanish team, who for sure have given hope back to their country as they fight economic woes. It was almost a perfect victory from a team that got stronger as the World Cup progressed, even though Fernando Torres, expected to be one of their key strikers, was fighting an injury and was not himself for most of the tournament. Most teams would crumble if one of their expected leaders and strikers had a bad tourament, but Spain got stronger. It was a very strong performance from them, and worthy of hoisting that gold trophy.

The other half of my heart though was with the Dutch, who had been to the finals two times before, oh so long ago. I have been half in love with this country's team ever since watching Dennis Bergkamp's fabulous volley up and away and over the heads and into the net from the far right side of the pitch. That was a beautiful goal and the exact moment I fell in love with the game, July 1998, the first year the World Cup was shown in full on a channel here in Canada. Going into this match I thought the Netherlands had a slight edge over who I wanted to win. I was wrong. I didn't know how much I wanted the Dutch to win today, until they lost.

I didn't cry until I saw the players still standing on the pitch while the Spanish team celebrated. They didn't want to leave, they didn't want it to be over, and no victory, again. Wesley Sneijder, and Robin Van Persie, who is the main striker for Arsenal also - did I say my heart was in half watching this game? A player from the club I support on either side? And there was Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, a former Arsenal player, who played the tournament of his life, who scored the amazing goal of the tournament in the semi-final that took the Dutch into the finals. When he was taken off the pitch late in the match today I turned to my husband and said, "Oh no, he's been marvelous defending, preventing at least three goals directly, what are they doing?" and sure enough, several minutes later, the winning goal came from the corner of the pitch he had been defending before. Now I know I really wanted The Netherlands to win the World Cup.

Afterwards, my 5 year old came up to me and said his favourite player had been Carlos Puyol, the Spanish defender who was superb in this game, and I agreed with him that he had been one of the outstanding players today.

Best of all, both kids were dancing to the World Cup Soccer song from South Africa:


as we heard the song for the final time. Wavin Flag, by K'Naan. What a wonderful song for a World Cup that was hosted not without problems, but with so much energy and spirit and goodwill that the South Africans, and indeed all of Africa, can be proud of. This was a fun World Cup, despite all the heartbreak and the joy. Maybe because of it. Because I believe that sometimes in defeat, we can find a way to win the next time. And there will be a next time. Not for all the Dutch players - or Spanish players, or any other team in the World Cup. A next time for all the national teams themselves, everywhere the world over, to try again to get to the World Cup, and then win it. Who knows? Maybe Canada will qualify next time around. Because more than anything, the World Cup is about dreams, and making them real.

Congratulations Spain, it took you so long, so many years and attempts, to find a way to win. You did it. Hurray! and Netherlands - thanks for playing so very very well. There were only minute differences between you and Spain. It was a game of inches. And thanks for breaking my half my heart, because now I know I love you.

Goodbye, World Cup 2010. It was fun, it was fabulous, it was surprising, it was often beautiful, and beyond words, it brought the world together for one precious month. It's the beautiful game.

*****Edited to add: Marg over at Adventures of an Intrepid Reader also wrote about the World Cup, here.
Let me know if you did also, Gentle Reader, and I'll add your link.

Blackout by Connie Willis

What a wonderful book. I read it in one day, which is lucky for me, because this book is written at such a breathless pace that it's a very difficult book to put down. Blackout is a return to Willis' time-travelling world set in 2150, which we saw previously in Dooms Day and Say Nothing of the Dog, featuring Mr Dunworthy as the head of the time travelling history department. In these books, Willis has created a science fiction world of time travel done by historians who go back in time to learn what history was really like. In this book, some of the time travellers - focusing on three specific time travellers, Merope, Polly and Michael - go back to England during WW2. They go to Dunkirk, the evacuation of the children from London to the countryside, and the beginnings of the Blitz - London in 1940. And from the opening lines as Colin searches for Polly to give her a message, to the last line when a mysterious 5th time traveller comes to London just as the bombs are about to fall, this book is enchanting. There is a fourth time traveller who we get part of the story for, but nothing in depth as the first three. That will come later, I expect.

I felt like I was really there during the Blitz, hearing the bombs fall, the airplanes as they droned over the city, the air raid sirens, the explosions. We see London through the eyes of Polly, who is undercover as a shopgirl, we see the evacuated children in the countryside through the eyes of Merope, who is working as a maid in the country house, and we see Dunkirk through Michael's eyes. The switch from character to character works very well here, and Willis is an expert at leaving the chapter just as things get interesting. I really could not put this book down. My only warning is that this is part one of two, as the publisher broke the book into two parts, and All Clear will be published in October of this year - thankfully, I do not have too long to wait!

This book is a great beach read. By this I mean, you could read it in one day, laugh out loud and cry, and come away completely satisfied. It is enjoyable, well-researched, filled with interesting characters and even has some funny moments, as well as some of the best secondary characters in all of fiction. Every character is memorable, and I really feel as if I had just taken a trip back to London my self.

Even though I qualify it as a beach read or excellent book to read in the heat (which means you can't do anything except read anyway, hurray for summer!), it does have some interesting ideas about history and time travel. If time travel existed, how do we know if our actions will affect history or not? Are we allowed to do anything, and if we do, what happens? does it matter if we get involved in locals' lives? In Willis' theory of time travel, the net - the transportation site to and from historical locations - won't let you in if you arrive at a crucial point in history because the danger of affecting it is too great. But Polly, Michael and Merope end up trapped in the Blitz, when their pick-up times pass and their nets won't open. If the science theory that observation changes the outcome of the experiment is applied to time travel, has Mr Dunworthy discovered too late that sending people back in time is more dangerous than anyone realized? That history has indeed been changed already? Even though time travel doesn't exist yet, these are questions I find myself asking while reading this book, which is a sign that even though I haven't been aware of it, Willis has been asking them all along. What does it mean to time travel? Is it safe? What happens when the way back home is temporarily closed? Are there any moments in time that it is safe to become part of, if you weren't there the first time around? Very interesting questions, I think. I'm really looking forward to Part Two in October.

10/10

Finished!! Canada Challenge 3 - I am a good Canadian!!

I did it! I did it! I completed the Canadian Challenge 3 Eh?!!! Third time must be lucky, this is the third year I attempted this challenge, and I am so thrilled and proud of myself for completing it. MOstly because I want to prove to myself that we have good, interesting, fun, intriguing books to share with the world. This year, I proved it to myself. AND I still have books on my TBR mountain for this challenge, so I'm ready for next year's challenge!

The last two books I read for this challenge, I read this month:


The Rez Sisters, by Tomson Highway. I read this play in university many years ago, and I was anxious to see how I found it now. It is just as moving and funny as it was 19 years ago, I am very happy to say. The Rez Sisters won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best New Play when it came out in 1986, and was nominated for the Governor General's Award. This is a very big deal, not just because it is a play, but because it is written by an Aboriginal Canadian. Tomson was born in Northern Manitoba, far from the city. He was educated at a Roman Catholic boarding school - a product of the residential schools, which were charged with erasing native culture from the minds of the young people sent there, so they could take their place as Canadians in the cities, speaking English and no trace of otherness left. I'm not going to get into a rant here about what that says about Canadian colonialism and views of many white people towards natives. I mention it because, despite being sent to the residential school, Tomson survived, and went on to become - is - one of our leading figures in Aboriginal writing in Canadian literature. There is nothing strident, there is no bitterness, in The Rez Sisters, or in Dry Lips Outta Move to Kapuskasing, his other famous play, which I had the privilege of seeing performed at the National Arts Center when it came on tour in the 1990's. The Rez Sisters is funny and bittersweet, a tragicomedy in two parts: before a group of women from a reserve go to the World's Largest Bingo in Toronto, and after. In a form of gentleness rarely seen in fiction, Highway illustrates through his characters - 7 women on the reserve, and Nanabush, the figure of a seagull who is also the Trickster figure - what life is like on the reserve, and how these women relate to one another. Each of the women is clearly drawn, from Pelajia the eldest at 53, to Zhaboonigan the youngest at 24, her niece. All of the women are related to one another, sort of, which is exactly what living on the reserve is like, and is also a pun on the native belief that we are all related. The funniest part of the book is how they raise the money to get from the reserve to Toronto. The heartbreaking moments are two - the death of one of the characters, and what has happened to Zhaboonigan, who is also mentally handicapped. Read this play if you want an idea of what Aboriginal humour is like, about their honesty and how their dignity is all we have left them, but it's all we all have in the end anyway. This is a glimpse into another world that turns out to be about all of us. Still beautiful, after all these years.

The other book I read was Chester, by Melanie Watt:


Chester is an irrepressible cat who is determined to make the book about him, despite Melanie the author attempting to write about a mouse who lives in the country. Chester is obviously a strong character, charming, funny, and this book will appeal to everyone. This is how cats are. Really. For cat lovers, kids, and everyone else (except dog lovers, though dogs do make an appearance here). Delightful Canadian children's book that I highly recommend.

So, there you have it, my final two books for the Canadian Challenge 3. I'm thrilled to look back on all the good books I read this year (see my sidebar for the list). Canadian books - poetry, plays, journals, science fiction, fantasy, and mystery, some of what I read this year - are worth discovering. I look forward to the next challenge, due to begin tomorrow. Won't you join me?

Some birthday books and how to get your footie man to read

My birthday was a month ago, but for various reasons, I haven't been able to post about the books I received. The first book I received on my birthday, from my wonderful husband who is also the lucky recipient of my recipes so he likes picking out what he is going to be eating for the next few years.

Nigel Slater is one of my favourite cooks. He was the one who taught me how to roast a chicken perfectly every time, how to make bangers and mash the way the English like them, and who gave a recipe for lentil soup that is a winter mainstay in our household now. He is an English cook, so I am not able to see his tv shows, though I do copy out his Observers Food Monthly columns often. I didn't know before discovering him that that there were cooks that could speak to us, whose recipes made sense and who I would feel comfortable spending time in the kitchen with, until I met Nigel in Appetite while I lived in England in 1999-2000.

Appetite is his award-winning cookbook, and had just come out that winter. Giving me The Kitchen Diaries, the latest from this wonderful cook, was a real delight for me. In this cookbook, Nigel takes us through the year of a cook and his garden and the vegetable market. He decided to cook with what ever foods he could find at the market that day, and whatever his garden was producing at that time. Seasonal eating, which seems trendy now, although if you buy food at the fresh market stalls, as we are lucky enough to have here in Ottawa, then eating seasonally is possible 5 months of the year. I have done this for several years now, from May until Oct when the last of the harvest is gone. So I am thrilled to have a book by Nigel on how to use the bumper foods as they come into season, how to live rhythmically with the seasons.

I have only dipped into this cookbook so far, and already I've seen several recipes I want to try. Grilled zucchini with basil and lemon, cannelini beans with coppa, spinach and mustard (the picture of this dish always makes me hungry when I look at it!), lamb chops with oregano and tsatziki, Nigel's delightful trifle (alcohol-free!), Chicken stew and mash (for winter days)........mmmmmm, it must be lunch time soon. I will be reading this cookbook throughout the year, so I can try out Nigel's recipes as the food becomes available here too, so I can experiment further with eating seasonally. I'll let you know how it goes.

My other presents didn't arrive from Amazon.ca until this past Friday, thanks to a gift certificate from my mother:


Yes, I treated myself to a hardcover! Connie Willis's Blackout, which I had been intending to wait until it came out in softcover so I could carry it, has had so many good reviews that I can't wait. A very rare treat, and I've already read the first chapter while finishing up reading books for the other book challenges about to wind up. I bought for my birthday:
Blackout - Connie Willis
Diamond Solitaire - Peter Lovesey - 2nd book in the Peter Diamond series
Dido Live - dvd of Dido's live performance in 2004 in England
Lone Star - dvd, John Sayle's dark mystery, which I absolutely love and haven't seen in ages.

By the way, Blackout is book one of two books. It was so huge the publisher broke the novel into two parts, and the second book, All Clear, is due out in October. That's not so long to wait! Connie is one of my favourite authors, and this book is a return to Mr Dunworthy and his time-travelling historians. This time they are going back to World War 2. Here is a review that does not give anything away, at Locus Magazine online.

**I'll be posting on Carl's challenge tonight, after I finish reading A Midsummer's Night's Dream this afternoon. Lovely, lovely midsummer's eve! And Shakespeare.

Happy Fathers' Day and how to bring more books into the house:
It's Father's Day here in Canada, as it is in many places in the world. To my readers who are also fathers, Happy Father's Day. I hope you get some quiet time to read (most likely tonight after those who have made you fathers go to bed). My spouse, who is parked in front of the tv for World Cup football (aka soccer over here in North America) for this month, received two books from me - many of you know he is long-suffering because I buy more books than he has seen in his life. Slowly but surely I have been building a large library of English football books for my love. Today was no exception: he received the England pre-match warm-up kit to wear, as a proud England supporter, and two books:

Soccernomics, by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski
The Story of the World Cup by Brian Glanville

Since England, and now Italy, are on the bubble - they must win their next game or go home early from the tournament - Soccernomics, which I bought some time ago, seems timely with its subtitle: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, And Why the US, Japan, Australia, Turkey - And Even Iraq - Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport.

I hope wherever you are, you are enjoying a book and some footie on this Sunday.

PS May I add my congratulations to my readers from New Zealand? We were cheering for you today, and it was a thrilling point you won today against the Azzuri.
PPS To my Italian readers, I'm sorry, I really am. As someone who cheers for England, you can take comfort that you played better than we did in our last match.

Emily's meme, or Confessions of a Book Reader

So Emily over at Telecommuter Talk and I are on the same frame of mind, since we both were looking at the new Oprah magazine on the newsstands for the same 'Summer books' article. I came away thinking I'd got off rather lightly since for once, as none of the books seemed to catch my interest. Then Emily went and got inspired from the same article , and here is her meme that I'm borrowing because I think it's fun and interesting: what books have you planned to read for years, and never have gotten around to? what have you never read? In Emily's words, it's true confession time, and in the spirit of sharing the shame, here are my ten books that I've meant to read, but never got around to:

1. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy. I have bought at least two copies, no, three, over the years, and I still haven't got past the first page. I used to take it with me on holidays as my "I have lots of time to read on my vacation" book, but lately I've given up on even that. I don't know why I haven't read it, I want to!!

2. Any book by Charles Dickens. *hangs head in deep, deep shame* I am buying them now. Ever since I saw the latest version of Bleak House on tv (the version with Gillian Anderson) I have realized that maybe Charles isn't quite so wordy as I thought once. Plus, Dr Who made him cool in their first season episode where the world-weary Charles finds there is something unexplained in the universe after all. I own David Copperfield and Great Expectations. Which one should I start with? And why can't I find Bleak House anywhere?

3. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger. I was such an angry teenager, already in danger of great disaffection to hide the disappointments in my life, that when I read the first page of this book, I got so mad at the insufferable main character - what did he know about suffering? About pain so deep there wasn't words? I put the book down and have never picked it up again. Lately I've been wondering if I've finally put my teen angst away enough that I can try this. Maybe.

4. Anything by Robertson Davies. *hangs Canadian head in shame*. My friend and book-twin Bybee at Naked Without Books has a book-crush on him, making me feel like I might be missing something after all. But not enough to actually pick up a book yet. It must be his beard.

5. Books I've been meaning to read, and have started, but never finished: Little, Big by John Crowley, Possession by AS Byatt, and Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. There must be something wrong with me. Almost everyone loves these books passionately, and they left me bored, yawning, falling asleep even, and I can't remember any of the characters names, even though I've tried to read all three within the last two years. Maybe I'm not a 'everyone loves this' kind of book reader. Maybe they just aren't for me. I'm still disappointed though, because I went in with such high expectations of really enjoying each of them. See? true confessions of a book reader.......I'm sure you all feel much better about yourselves as book readers after seeing my failures!

6 and 7. Homer - The Iliad and The Odyssey. I own these now. They are referenced in so much. I do, I really want to read these. I am embarrassed that I haven't read them yet! How can I be a reader and a writer and not read two of the best and oldest written adventures in the world?

8. Ulysses - James Joyce. I have long, long wanted to read this book. I own the unabridged version, recently acquired. I think I'm afraid to pick it up and find I don't like it, after waiting so long. This one requires a big dose of courage.

9. Le Mort D'Arthur - Thomas Mallory. *shuffles feet. Stares fixedly at the ground.*

10. Earthsea Trilogy - Ursula K. LeGuin. One of the finest fantasy trilogies ever, even my 21 year old son has read it, but I have not. I think my mother has too. What am I waiting for?

So there you have it. A small fraction of the books I have not read yet, that I want to read. An embarrassing collection of mostly great books that have slipped through my reading hands. The emphasis is on want - these aren't books I feel I should read, anymore. I want to read them. Well, maybe Robertson Davies falls into the 'should' read category still.

How about you, dear reader? What books do you feel you should have ready by now, and haven't? what books have you really, really wanted to read, and have never gotten around to reading yet? Please feel free to take this meme and run with it. After all, what's a little shame between book friends?

The book I reached for when my cat died

A week ago Saturday our beloved cat Bandit was put to sleep. Her cancer had finally spread, quite suddenly, and we knew it was time. After we held her, and said our goodbyes, and buried her, I found my thoughts straying to a book for comfort. No, not the Bible. No, not a childhood book like Black Beauty or Little House on the Prairies or even Anne of Green Gables.

No, surprisingly, my thought flew towards Stephen King. Out of the blue, I wanted to read Pet Semetary. The urge was so strong, that after checking my shelves - once upon a time I owned all of his books, and am now rebuilding my collection of his titles - discovering I hadn't replaced it, I rushed out and bought it at Chapters. I read The Cipher Garden as fast as I could (very very good mystery by the way, will review it shortly; I was in the middle of this when all this with Bandit happened, and after waiting 6 weeks for the book, I was not putting it down again until it was done!!) and then opened up Pet Semetary with a happy sigh.

I can feel you all looking at me. But Susan, it's a horror novel! you are all saying. In fact a friend of mine at work asked me on Friday about this. Your cat just died, and you're reading Pet Semetary, she asked. Can I ask why?

Yes, I answered. I want to remember why it's good to not want my cat to come back.

It's funny what our minds turn to for comfort, and what books we suddenly need to hand, isn't it?

I haven't read Pet Semetary in over 15 years, and I am enjoying/deliciously scared by it all over again. And I'm really hoping I never see the earth disturbed over top of where she is lying.

Goodbye Bandit, you were such a beloved kitty.