What are you reading in December 2007?

Each month I will start a new thread topic about what your reading for the current month. You will click on the current month, read other peoples entries and then click on 'post message' after the last entry. Here you will add the books your currently reading, books that you have now finished, and any added commentary or reviews of your books or anyone else's book entries.
When you return to the group page and want to read a thread, you can see how many messages have been added that you have not read for a certain topic. If you click on the "1 unread' hyperlink, it will take you to the first unread one!

Enjoy!!

P.s. Look to the right of the message box as you type your message. If gives directions on how to get the touchstones to work to highlight your books and authors. Key thing here..it's a bracket you use..not parentheses.. A single bracket on each side for books..2 brackets on each side of an author!!

I picked up 2 murder mystery books from the box of books mom gave me that I just loved!! Both books are part of the "Gray Whale Inn Mysteries" by new writer Karen MacInerney, Murder on the Rocks and Dead and Berried. These were very easy to read and I read both in a couple of days. She mixes a murder mystery and baking together for a delightful combination. Included at the end of the book are the recipes to some of the items the title character makes throughout the story!

I'm continuing to read The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld which is set in New York, in the early 1900's. As a murder is committed in NYC, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung are just coming off a ship from Europe to attend some speaking engagements at a local college. Murder and Psychoanalysis come together to help solve a strange murder and the life of one girl who got away from the murderer. So far, it's a good book, but it's having a hard time grabbing me in to wanting to keep reading it for any length of time.

So...what are you all reading??

The Interpretation of Murder sounds cool. Is it really based on a factual event or is it totally historical fiction? - Annette :-)

Right now I'm reading a book I'm giving to Mom for Christmas, so I can't divulge the title ... it's supposed to be a surprise (ok, not a surprise since it was on the Amazon list). Are you allowed to read books before giving them as gifts? I hope so, because I do... tee hee ;-)

I have finished The Jamestown Project by Karen Ordahl Kupperman and The River Where America Began by Bob Deans. These were the two of Mom's 6-8 books on Jamestown - 400th Anniversary, you know.

I was not disappointed. The The Jamestown Project laid a great foundation, discussing all the attempts, previously, to establish colonies in the New World, finally achieving some success in Jamestown, after much difficulty. The River Where America Began: A Journey Along the James was a great follow-up book to read. It traces the events in the history of America that occurred along the James River in Virgina from the settlement in 1607 to the end of the Civil War.

Washington and Richmond, the two capitals of the combatants, were only 100 miles apart. Richmond is on the James River. When the Confederates finally abandoned Richmond, just before the end of the War, Lincoln was actually just a few miles down the James... meeting with his generals. Two days after Jefferson Davis abandoned his capital, Lincoln actually visited Richmond, and sat in the chair of Jefferson Davis in his office in the former Confederate capital.... just a few weeks before he was assasinated. Interesting reading, to say the least!

My current book is T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton, the twentieth in the series. This one still has Kinsey Millhone, but, in addition, some of the chapters are from the viewpoint of a "Solana Rojas" - a lady who has stolen this person's identity. The heart of the story will deal with the inner workings of identity theft as well as abuse in elder care giving facilities - real pleasant to look forward to!! But Sue Grafton is such a good writer, I think she will pull it off!

The book about the James River is particularly interesting. I really like books that focus on a particular place over time. The geography of an area is essential to understanding historical events. Sounds very cool!

#3 from eduscapes....Sorry for just now getting back. It says on the book that it is "based" on the one and only time that Freud came to the United States. There is speculation that something happened to him while visiting that made him never want to come back to the US. So, with some information and speculation..that is what the book is written around (so not all is true...I assume).
I am half way through...hope to get done in next few days...

These two are an unlikely coupling of books!: (1) I am reading a short book titled "The Bristlecone Book" - - just got this in a few days ago from BarneyNoble. It's all about bristlecone pines. Annette and I look forward to showing all our Utah visitors the small colony of bristlecones that we discovered on a backroad above Bicknell on Thousand Lakes Mountain (misnamed peak; there are only a handful of lakes). Anyway I will finish reading this in a day or so. (2) Have one other book in progress (bout 1/3 through): "The Joke's Over" by Ralph Steadman. This is a memoir of the artist's wild relationship with 'gonzo writer' Hunter S. Thompson (author of 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'). Steadman illiustrated many of Thompson's writings with his unique pen & ink drawings. Larry first mis-posted this in eduscapes account

#7 by eduscapes: I think this is about the first book I have read in this format, with a particular place, over time. I will probably look for some more books on early Virginia. These were my two first... only have one or so of my lines that came through Virginia, so has not been high on my list. Now that I've started, I'll probably carefully select a couple more... certain counties, perhaps, certain years, to get the proper background for my other research.

I finished The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld yesterday (Friday). It was an interesting book that was fiction, but was based on the one time visit to America by Sigmund Freud (a murder mystery with his possible ties to the investigation). I am now reading Family Skeletons by Rett MacPherson that is an easy mystery read. At the same time, I am reading The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss Ultra-Metabolism by Mark Hyman (ok, so I'm getting one of my new years resolutions going!). I am going to start on The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman after I get done with the mystery too.

I finished Family Skeletons last night and really liked it..only 9 more to go in the series!! hahaha.... First, I think I will read The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. Unfortunately, the movie already left here, but is in Springfield if I want to see it!

I guess I should include the children's books I've been reading the past couple weeks of December:
Iron Thunder (I Witness) by Avi
Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach
A Poke in the I poetry collections
A Kick in the Head poetry collections
Grandma's Feather Bed by John Denver and Christopher Canyon
The Great Fuzz by Janet Stevens

You can check out the reviews if you're interested.