Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Another Evening at Barnes and Noble

It seems my husband and I are magnetically attracted to book stores. Last night we planned our whole evening around going to B&N -- when we were going, which restaurant was closest, what we were looking for -- well, what he was looking for. I went with an open mind and I came home with quite a variety of goodies.

I had received a gift card from my son and daughter in law for Mother's Day that I still had a balance on so I felt like I could splurge a little bit. The first thing I looked at was the section with Monica Ferris books. I have never read Monica Ferris but keep picking up her titles and giving them a look. I went looking for her first title in the Needlecraft Mysteries -- "Crewel World". I don't like reading things out of sequence so I figured that would be a good place to start. Naturally, they didn't have it. Nor did they have the second, "Framed in Lace". They did have a compilation of the first three titles in the series -- the two previously mentioned plus "A Stitch in Time". Even though it was twice the price of the two individual copies it was a third less expensive than buying them separately -- buy one get one free so to speak. Snatched it up immediately -- they only had one copy and I was sure everyone in the store wanted it!

A couple of other titles caught my eye and I walked into the store and I decided to grab those, too. The first is "The Madonnas of Leningrad" by Debra Dean. It is the story of an aging woman who struggles to remember current details but can vividly recount her time in World War II Leningrad. It is the first novel for author Debra Dean and it boasts rave reviews from the like of Isabel Allende, NPR, USA Today, New York Times and the Seattle Post.

The third book I picked up is "Ghosts Among Us" by James Van Praagh. I don't know why I gravitate to books of this nature but I do. I sat down and read a few pages before I added it to my stack and it caught my interest so I am going to give it a go. It is a short book and will be an easy read.

So, a few more to add to my ever growing stack of TBR's -- my husband didn't find what he was looking for -- something about automobile suspensions but I can't worry about that -- I have a lot of reading to do.

3 comments:

jlshall said...

A whole book about automobile suspensions? Guys are so amusing, aren't they?

Never heard of the "Ghosts" book, but I've been curious about "Madonnas of Leningrad" - almost bought it several times. And I've read three of Monica Ferris's needlework mysteries, and really enjoyed them. Yes, it's good to start with the first one because she uses some of her "regulars" as suspects, and if you know they appear in later books it kind of takes away some of the suspense. Naturally, I started with book number three!

Boyett-Brinkley said...

Yes, guys are amusing -- especially when they are trying to hot rod their truck!!!

I am about half way through the ghost book -- it is a fast easy read as are most of those types of books. Part of it I believe but it is getting to be a bit over the top which a lot of reviewers said. I will reserve judgment until I am done but, for now, let's just say it is entertaining.

"The Madonnas of Leningrad" just sort of hit me but then I like historical fiction and it isn't of epic proportion. The Monica Ferris books just look cool but I was sure I needed to start at the beginning. It is kinda like the Jennifer Chiaverinni books about quilting -- they go in order and should be read that way. I really can't wait to start them but I am already working on three so it will be a while.

Christine Thresh said...

It is good to start at the beginning with the Betsy series. I've enjoyed most of Monica Ferris' needlework mystery books.

Update

 Ok, so we visited our cardiologist yesterday to get the lay of the land for the Hubs.  Seems there is an issue with one of the grafts from ...