I love reading books. Writing book reviews, not so much. I tell myself it's good for me to write them for my 2015 Reading Challenge . Discipline and all that. Of which, I have been finding the time to read for pleasure more regularly. Yay! for that. Boo! though, as a couple of the books I've read don't fit any category. This may mean another level of discipline—finding books that do match the challenge categories. I'll think about it. Anyway, today, I give you four reviews. Just so you and the FCC know: Should you click on the Amazon links and happen to purchase anything there, Amazon may reward me with a bit of change. √ A book with magic As I read The Game by Laurie R. King, I traveled back to the Flapper Age, wandering around India with 60-ish Sherlock Holmes and his much younger wife Mary Russell.  The couple was sent there by Mycroft, brother of Sherlock, to find the 50-ish missing spy Kim O'Hara, the once-upon-a-time young boy about whom Rudyard Ki

How many book challenges did I sign up for at the beginning of the year?  Whatever was I thinking? Oh, yeah, that I could and would read books for pleasure, at the same time as I'm doing research crazily about 500,000 different professions. hahahahahahahahahahaha. Yeah, I'm hysterical. No, serious, I am hysterical. I started off fine. If you were to look at my book list ,  you'd see I've read a dozen so far. C'est la vie. Just the fact that I piled up all the books that I want to read, rather than scattered throughout our space is a win for me. And, for the husband. Poor guy. Once upon a time he organized and managed a very large warehouse of paper and office supplies for a California state agency. It was very clean and orderly. It in fact rivaled the cleanliness of the Mama's garden. (The woman picks up leaves and sweeps the ground every day that it's not raining. ) What was I talking about? Book challenges, yeah. There is one I did complete: The Cozy Book

Me thinks I could become a reading-challenge addict. I have forced myself to stop reading about yet another challenge to attempt for no other purpose then claiming at the end of the year that "I done did it!" So, Off the Shelf Challenge is absolutely the last reading challenge that I'll be joining to help motivate me to complete my 2011 Reading List . The Off the Shelf Challenge is hosted by Dutchie, from Australia who blogs at Bookish Ardour . The motive behind this challenge is to help participants finally read some of the books that have been growing dust (cough, cough) on their shelves. The challenge runs throughout 2011 and you can sign up at anytime. There are seven reading levels from which to choose—Tempted, Trying, Making a Dint, On a Roll, Flying Off, Hoarder, and Buried. FYI: The Buried participants plan to read between 126 and 200 books! For more details of the Off the Shelf Challenge, click here . I've chosen to participate at the On a Roll level, which

What? Yet another reading challenge? Uh, but this is a neat one. What's in a Name Challenge! tests participants to find and read books that fit its six different categories. And, these are thinking-outside-of-the-box categories. For instance, one category is called "a book with a number in the title." Interesting, no? Participants only need to read one book in each category, and we have all of 2011 to complete the quest. This challenge is hosted by Beth Fish who blogs at Beth Fish Reads . For more details about the What's in a Name Challenge! , click here .   As usual, I already have my list of titles for the challenge, culled from my 2011 Reading List . Here you go: A book with a number in the title: At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien A book with jewelry or a gem in the title: The Clue of the Broken Locket by Carolyn Keene A book with a size in the title: A Little Too Much Is Enough by Kathleen Tyou A book with travel or movement in the title: Travels with Zen

I like to read cookbooks. Reading recipes is often times just as creatively satisfying as preparing them. So, it isn't surprising when I tell you that I also like to read stories and memoirs that revolve around food. Uh-huh. What better reading challenge for this joyous aspect of reading then the...wait for it... Foodie's Reading Challenge hosted by Margot who blogs Joyfully Retired . Like most reading challenges, participants choose their own goals. The Foodie's Reading Challenge has five levels—Nibbler, Bon Vivant, Epicurean, Gourmet, and Glutton. For more details about this challenge, head over to here . My goal is to complete the Bon Vivant level. These are the books I hope to read for the challenge.  Yes, indeed, they are part of my list of 70. For those of you who are new to me, you can click here for my personal reading throw down. Glazed Murder: A Donut Shop Mystery by Jessica Beck Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain M

Who doesn't like to read books about her hometown or region? Okay, maybe not you over there. But, for everyone else with their arms up, here's a reading challenge you'll like. Simply called Hometown Challenge , it's hosted by Kris who blogs at Not Enough Books   and Outwardly Pleasant . She also hosts the annual Cozy Mystery Challenge that starts in April, which I did last year. The Hometown Challenge started in September and runs through the end of August 2011. Anyone can sign-up any time before August 1, 2011. There are four levels to the challenge—Tourist, Relocation, Local, and Founder. Kris's rules are quite flexible, so if a person lives in a small town, such as I do, she can choose books that take place in her county or nearby big cities.  For more details about this reading challenge, click here . I'm electing to read books only that take place in my town and county— Hollister (San Benito County) California . Being a small city and county, I'm aimin

When it comes to me seeking reading challenges, it's a given that I will search for a cozy mystery challenge. Success! If you're into cozy mysteries and reading challenges, check out Cruisin' thru the Cozies Reading Challenge 2011 hosted by Yvonne who blogs Socrates' Book Review . The challenge runs from January to December, 2011. Participants can choose one of three levels—snoop, investigator, and super sleuth—for which to aim. For more details about the Cruisin' thru the Cozies Reading Challenge , click here .  Not sure what a cozy mystery is? Then click over to Cozy-Mystery.com . I'm signing up for the "investigator" level, which means I will need to read between 7 and 12 cozy mystery titles. My goal for the challenge is to read the 11 titles listed below in alphabetical order, which are part of my 2011 Reading List . Glazed Murder: A Donut Shop Mystery by Jessica Beck Size 14 is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carli

The 2011 TBR (to be read) Pile Challenge is one of several reading challenges I will join this year. This challenge is hosted by the Roof Beam Reader aka Adam who says that he is "one of the 5% minority - a male book blogger!" The goal of this challenge, according to the Roof Beam Reader, is "to finally read 12 books from your 'to be read' pile, within 12 months." All 12 books that a participant reads must have been on her shelf for at least one year. Tomorrow is the deadline for signing up, which involves listing the 12 titles to be read and, if desired, two alternate titles in case one can't stand reading one or two books on her list. To learn more about the TBR Pile Challenge , click here . Here are my 12 titles in ABC order, with publication dates for the Roof Beam Reader. Sink or swim, I'm reading them, so no alternates for me. Will I regret that? We shall see. Around the World with a King by William N. Armstrong (1995) Six Months in the San

The spell is broken, thanks to the Cozy Mystery Challenge ! and to the numerous power outages we had yesterday. For most of Sunday, I kicked back in a comfy easy chair and read U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton. Grafton is known for her mystery series featuring Kinsey Millhone, a private detective who works in the fictional town of Santa Teresa, which resembles Santa Barbara. Every year or two since the mid 1980s, Grafton has published another adventure of the 30-ish, tough, and vulnerable Kinsey. Some people call Grafton the alphabet mystery author. Her first book is called A is for Alibi , her second B is for Burglar , and so on.  Four more titles and she'll be out of letters. I wonder if by letter Z that will be the end of Millhone. I hope not. In U is for Undertow , a young man hires Kinsey to check out the truth of his memory. When he was six years old he came across two guys burying something in the woods. He thinks that what he saw was them burying the body of the four-y