What I've been reading lately ...

If you’ve been a follower of my blog for very long, you know I’m a big reader. Well, I’ve been reading some really good books lately and thought I’d share them.

I discovered Sandra Dallas several months ago and have enjoyed her books so much. The one I read most recently is called The Diary of Mattie Spenser and it is a fictional diary that a pioneer woman in the 1860’s writes, telling about her life – the hardships and joys – in the Colorado Territory. From the first page, I was completely enthralled by Mattie; the story seems so real and true to what life must have been like in those days. I have felt this way about every Sandra Dallas book I’ve read, and I look forward to reading more.

I just finished a really fun book by Marjorie Ford, The Diary of an American Au Pair, which is sort of The Nanny Diaries goes to Scotland. It was funny and very escapist – chick lit at its best. Another “diary,” but a completely different kind.

I’m in the middle of A Lion Called Christian by Anthony Bourke and John Rendall. This is the story behind that youtube video that was going around a couple years ago about the guys who raised a lion cub in London, then set it free in Africa, and their reunion with the lion in Africa a year later. I loved the video when it arrived in my email inbox. And I just happened to catch a documentary on Animal Planet a couple weeks ago that gave a lot more background and information about Christian and the two guys who raised him and loved him enough to set him free. Anyway, this book makes me feel good. I love animal stories and I love when people do the right thing. So it’s a win-win.

I also have to admit, I’ve been on the Janet Evanovich website, and she has the first chapter or so of her latest Stephanie Plum book, Finger Lickin’ Fifteen. I love, love, love the Stephanie Plum books and cannot wait for this one to come out in June. I also love how she puts “teasers” on her website, which totally suck me in and make me want the book even more.

I’ve read the first book in the Twilight series and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. So, I’ve ordered the second one off half.com and will start down that road.

I have the latest in the Diane Mott Davidson series about a caterer (Goldy Schultz) who cooks up a storm and also solves murders in her spare time. It’s called Fatally Flaky. I love those books and actually made a couple of the recipes in some of the early ones.

Guess that’s it for now. Oh, and Steve says half the moving truck will be filled with boxes of books. (He’s as big of a reader as I am.)