Wrapping up the 2019 Backlist Reader Challenge:

The goal:  read books from your existing TBR pile or TBR list.

This challenge, hosted by  Lark at The Bookwyrm's Hoard, is always a fun one because it pushes me to read the books I already own--all those books that have been gathering dust on my bookshelves for years now. I didn't have a set goal when I started this challenge last January, although I was kind of hoping to read at least one TBR a month. Did I reach my goal? Not quite. But I did manage to read ten books off my own TBR shelf this year...and I'm good with that. 

Here are the 10 books from my TBR shelf that I read this year:

Locker Nine by Franklin Horton

Growing Up by Angela Thirkell

Haven by Laury Falter

The White Magic Five and Dime by Steve Hockensmith

Cavern of the Damned by Russell James

Island in the Mist by C.G. Mosley

Dead Things by Stephen Blackmore

The Crawling Darkness by J.L. Bryan

When the Power is Gone by P.A. Glaspy

The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates

They were all decent reads, but my two favorites were definitely When the Power is Gone and The Crawling Darkness. But then you know how much I like EMP survival and haunted house books.

Happy Reading!

From the E Shelf...

Author:  Aaron Elkins

Title:  A Long Time Coming

First line:  "My name is Val Caruso and I'm a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have been having one hell of a day, and I don't mean in a good way."

It was the cover of this one that first caught my eye. Then, when I saw that the story involved a Holocaust survivor, two Renoir paintings, looted art, a trip to Italy, mystery and murder, I knew I had to check it out. And I'm glad I did. I enjoyed the way this story unfolded from Caruso agreeing to do a favor for a friend, to Sol Bezzecca's story of his great grandfather's two Renoir paintings and how they were stolen during World War II, to the quirky characters Caruso meets in Milan as he tries to get one of the paintings back for Sol. Throw a little art theft and murder into the mix and the story gets even more interesting. This book is a well-plotted and entertaining mystery. I especially liked all the art history bits. And Caruso, or Tino as he's called in Italy, is a very likeable character. This was another serendipitous library find. I'm so glad I found it. Aaron Elkins is an author I'd definitely read again.

Happy Reading!

December's Bookish Art...

August Macke -- Elizabeth With Colorful Book

"A book is a dream that you hold in your hands."

--Neil Gaiman

Survive this!

Title & Author:  Ice Dogs by Terry Lynn Johnson
Genre:  YA Adventure
Setting:  Alaska

How it begins:  "All eight of my dogs are stretched in front of me in pairs along the gangline. they claw the ground in frustration as the loudspeaker blares. 'Here's team number five. Our hometown girl, fourteen-year-old Victoria Secord!'"

What happens next:  Victoria is still grieving the death of her father who taught her everything she knows about surviving in the Alaskan wilderness. Her dogs and mushing are what she loves most...and what help her survive her overwhelming grief. So when she gets a chance to acquire a new lead dog from a neighboring musher, she heads out cross-country with her sled and her dogs without telling anyone where she's going. Only she forgets to check the forecast. When a sudden March storm threatens, she debates about turning around and heading back home. But then she runs across a crashed snowmobile. The driver, Chris, is a teenager who's new to Alaska; he's hurt, and he's lost. As the storm worsens, it's up to Vicky and her dogs to keep them both alive...and somehow find their way back home.

My thoughts:  At 279 pages, Ice Dogs is a fun and fast-paced adventure. I read it in a day. Vicky's survival skills were impressive, but the Alaskan wild is unpredictable and dangerous. Finding food, staying warm, and protecting her dogs from wolves and moose takes everything Vicky's got. And Chris's lack of outdoor skills isn't exactly helping (especially when he accidentally burns up her only map). I have to admit, while I liked both these characters, Vicky's lead dog, Bean, was my favorite. I liked all the survival bits, too. Johnson's writing rings with authenticity, especially all the dog sledding parts, and her pacing never lets up.

Happy Reading!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gratitude should be expressed much more often than once a year, 

but I for one am glad there's one holiday that reminds us to stop and give thanks.

Here are a few of the things I'm most grateful for this year:

Game nights

Laughter

Beautiful mountain trails

Blue skies and sunshine

Enough to eat

A warm place to sleep

Letters in the mail

Homemade cookies

Good books, bubble baths, and cute boots

Forgiveness

Freedom,

Family & Friends

Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness!

Enjoy some turkey and a piece of pumpkin pie and have a very happy day of Thanksgiving!

Would Like To Meet by Rachel Winters

A brief summary: Evie Summers is 29 and living in London. She once dreamed of becoming a screenwriter; instead, she's been a lowly agent's assistant for the last seven years. And now, in order to save her job, she has to convince arrogant Ezra Chester to actually finish the screenplay he's been promising her boss for the last year. Only Ezra claims romantic comedies are unrealistic and completely beneath him. (Evie suspects he has writer's block.) To help him out, she offers to reenact those meet-cute scenes from her favorite rom-com movies to order to prove to him people really can fall in love like they do in the movies. Only so far it isn't working. She's spilled orange juice on a stranger, attended a book group, and even gotten her heel stuck in a sewer grate in the hopes a handsome stranger will rescue her. The results? Public humiliation and failure. And Ezra still isn't writing. What is she going to do?

My thoughts:  There is a lot to like about this book! It's entertaining and humorous and it has that happy "ahh" moment at the end. Evie's attempts to recreate her favorite meet-cute movie moments made me smile, especially when those moments came from some of my own favorite romantic comedies. My favorite parts were Evie's interactions with single dad, Ben, and his seven-year-old daughter, Anette, who witness several of her less-than-successful attempts to meet a cute guy. The way her friends cheer her on through their group texts was also fun. And what happens on the red carpet and at her friend's wedding totally made me laugh. I do wish Evie had stood up to her boss and Ezra more often, because neither one deserved her help or loyalty, but I was glad she finally stood up for herself at the end. It's hard to put a fresh spin on a romantic comedy, but Winters manages to do it well. Of course, the happy ending was completely predictable, but I thought it was cute and very satisfying. All in all, I'd give this one 4 stars.

Happy Reading!

P.S. I won a free copy of this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. 

Happy 200th Birthday, George Eliot!

Mary Ann Evans was born on November 22, 1819. She grew up in Warwickshire, England and moved to London in 1851 where she met George Henry Lewes. Though they never married, she and Lewes lived openly together for 24 years, a daring move in Victorian times. More importantly, Lewes encouraged Mary Ann's writing. Under the name George Eliot, she published her first novel in 1859. Five more classics followed. Eliot became the foremost woman novelist of her day. She died in 1880 at the age of 61.

George Eliot in Love by Brenda Maddox is an excellently written biography of this amazing writer. It details the most important moments in her life and gives you a sense of what kind of person she was. I really liked it, almost as much as I love these three favorite novels by Eliot, and these favorite quotes:

"Love once, love always."

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."

"And, of course, men know best about everything, 

except what women know better."

"It will never rain roses: when we want to have 

more roses, we must plant more roses."

Happy Reading!