besides Harlan Coban, Chris Grabenstein has written some fun well written detective stories....

Lee Childs is dependable...so is C.J. Box....I like Stuart Woods as well...

funny at first glance i thought you were asking about good boobs

BlackAdder7 said:

funny at first glance i thought you were asking about good socks

a good sock has plenty of room for the toes

[Edited 7/12/10 16:38pm]

i can NOT believe i forgot to mention this gent:

Alexander McCall Smith.

my GODDD i love his stuff!!! such a gentle voice, so loving and warm. it's like, eating a favorite food all day, but never getting full or sick of the taste.

absolutely inspiring read, in the sense that reading his books actually make a person believe in all that is good about humankind again. yes, really.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a book i highly recommend to anyone who is feeling slightly jaded, or turned off by a world full of darkness.

love this series.

florescent said:

XxAxX said:

i haven't read it yet. that sounds like a good read. thanks for the tip!

It's brilliant. and you're welcome.

okay, had a chance to check it out a bit. if it's as good as Time Traveller's Wife it's a must read...

so little time. so many books

Julia and Valentina Poole are twenty-year-old sisters with an intense attachment to each other. One morning the mailman delivers a thick envelope to their house in the suburbs of Chicago. Their English aunt Elspeth Noblin has died of cancer and left them her London apartment. There are two conditions for this inheritance: that they live in the flat for a year before they sell it and that their parents not enter it. Julia and Valentina are twins. So were the girls' aunt Elspeth and their mother, Edie.

The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders the vast Highgate Cemetery, where Christina Rossetti, George Eliot, Stella Gibbons, and other luminaries are buried. Julia and Valentina become involved with their living neighbors: Martin, a composer of crossword puzzles who suffers from crippling OCD, and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. They also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including—perhaps—their aunt.

BlackAdder7 said:

Shoewhore said:

I'm reading "Caught" by Harlan Coben. So far so good.

harlan coben is a great writer

I finished it this morning! GREAT BOOK!! I just ordered 4 more of his books!

Now I'm onto "Horns" by Joe Hill. His book "Heart Shaped Box" freaked me out for weeks after reading it!

XxAxX said:

Shoewhore said:

This has been sitting in my "to be read" pile! Maybe I'll move it to the top.

i am usually reading two or three books at a time. does anyone else ever do this?

sometimes, my 'to read' pile is way bigger than it should be.

i have a LOT of books in there that i started reading, put aside and never picked up again.....

At one point recently I realized I was reading 5 books at once. Couldn't figure out why I wasn't making any progress on any of them!

Shoewhore said:

XxAxX said:

i am usually reading two or three books at a time. does anyone else ever do this?

sometimes, my 'to read' pile is way bigger than it should be.

i have a LOT of books in there that i started reading, put aside and never picked up again.....

At one point recently I realized I was reading 5 books at once. Couldn't figure out why I wasn't making any progress on any of them!

i think i should stop doing this. it's made me kind of.... finicky. if the book doesn't grab me right away, i will put it aside for 'later'

i should probably try to read all of the books in that pile this summer..

XxAxX said:

i can NOT believe i forgot to mention this gent:

Alexander McCall Smith.

my GODDD i love his stuff!!! such a gentle voice, so loving and warm. it's like, eating a favorite food all day, but never getting full or sick of the taste.

absolutely inspiring read, in the sense that reading his books actually make a person believe in all that is good about humankind again. yes, really.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a book i highly recommend to anyone who is feeling slightly jaded, or turned off by a world full of darkness.

love this series.

I love this series too. You hit the nail on the head when you say it's for those feeling jaded. Ms. Ramostwe is awesome. I think I would love living her life.

Empress said:

XxAxX said:

i can NOT believe i forgot to mention this gent:

Alexander McCall Smith.

my GODDD i love his stuff!!! such a gentle voice, so loving and warm. it's like, eating a favorite food all day, but never getting full or sick of the taste.

absolutely inspiring read, in the sense that reading his books actually make a person believe in all that is good about humankind again. yes, really.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a book i highly recommend to anyone who is feeling slightly jaded, or turned off by a world full of darkness.

love this series.

I love this series too. You hit the nail on the head when you say it's for those feeling jaded. Ms. Ramostwe is awesome. I think I would love living her life.

i feel that way too, however, i am an inferior soul. she is kind and generous, i get snarky and sarcastic.

although, maybe it has to do with the amounts of pumpkins Mma Ramotswe eats? remember when she tried dieting?

i would love to visit botswana someday.

XxAxX said:

Empress said:

I love this series too. You hit the nail on the head when you say it's for those feeling jaded. Ms. Ramostwe is awesome. I think I would love living her life.

i feel that way too, however, i am an inferior soul. she is kind and generous, i get snarky and sarcastic.

although, maybe it has to do with the amounts of pumpkins Mma Ramotswe eats? remember when she tried dieting?

i would love to visit botswana someday.

I know what you mean. I don't think I could live up to her either. She's an awesome character. I love they way she deals with everything and her love of bush tea. Her relationship with her husband is entertaining too. I hope this series goes on for a while longer.

XxAxX said:

i can NOT believe i forgot to mention this gent:

Alexander McCall Smith.

my GODDD i love his stuff!!! such a gentle voice, so loving and warm. it's like, eating a favorite food all day, but never getting full or sick of the taste.

absolutely inspiring read, in the sense that reading his books actually make a person believe in all that is good about humankind again. yes, really.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a book i highly recommend to anyone who is feeling slightly jaded, or turned off by a world full of darkness.

love this series.

Love his books.

But I always feel hot and dusty after reading, because he describes Africa so well.

Empress said:

XxAxX said:

i feel that way too, however, i am an inferior soul. she is kind and generous, i get snarky and sarcastic.

although, maybe it has to do with the amounts of pumpkins Mma Ramotswe eats? remember when she tried dieting?

i would love to visit botswana someday.

I know what you mean. I don't think I could live up to her either. She's an awesome character. I love they way she deals with everything and her love of bush tea. Her relationship with her husband is entertaining too. I hope this series goes on for a while longer.

i have only two more books in the series, but i bet his other books (the series set in Scotland) are just as charming.

Genesia said:

XxAxX said:

i can NOT believe i forgot to mention this gent:

Alexander McCall Smith.

my GODDD i love his stuff!!! such a gentle voice, so loving and warm. it's like, eating a favorite food all day, but never getting full or sick of the taste.

absolutely inspiring read, in the sense that reading his books actually make a person believe in all that is good about humankind again. yes, really.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a book i highly recommend to anyone who is feeling slightly jaded, or turned off by a world full of darkness.

love this series.

Love his books.

But I always feel hot and dusty after reading, because he describes Africa so well.

me too. dusty and thirsty. sometime i want to find and drink some 'bush tea'.

XxAxX said:

Empress said:

I know what you mean. I don't think I could live up to her either. She's an awesome character. I love they way she deals with everything and her love of bush tea. Her relationship with her husband is entertaining too. I hope this series goes on for a while longer.

i have only two more books in the series, but i bet his other books (the series set in Scotland) are just as charming.

I haven't read the other series either, but I might pick it up at some point. I still have to buy the latest in the Detective series, but I've loved all the ones I've read up until now. Her secretary is a real buzz too and the two guys that work in the repair shop kill me.

Empress said:

XxAxX said:

i have only two more books in the series, but i bet his other books (the series set in Scotland) are just as charming.

I haven't read the other series either, but I might pick it up at some point. I still have to buy the latest in the Detective series, but I've loved all the ones I've read up until now. Her secretary is a real buzz too and the two guys that work in the repair shop kill me.

real people. i feel like i actually know them.

XxAxX said:

Empress said:

I haven't read the other series either, but I might pick it up at some point. I still have to buy the latest in the Detective series, but I've loved all the ones I've read up until now. Her secretary is a real buzz too and the two guys that work in the repair shop kill me.

real people. i feel like i actually know them.

yes, that's for sure. So simple, but so enjoyable too.

Have you read the Stieg Larsson trilogy? I really enjoyed it. I wouldn't normally read something like that, but my father in law got me into them and I was a bit surprised at how much I liked them. Not great literature, but a good story. My husband said he would never read them, but we talked him into it and he's now on book 3 and is enjoying it.

XxAxX said:

Genesia said:

Love his books.

But I always feel hot and dusty after reading, because he describes Africa so well.

me too. dusty and thirsty. sometime i want to find and drink some 'bush tea'.

You can find the tea anywhere. Just look for rooibos (pronounced roy'-boss). Almost every tea brand has at least one variety these days.

Right now, I'm reading Ordinary Thunderstorms by one of my favorite authors, William Boyd. I have a long plane trip coming up next week, so I'm planning to pick up The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, by one of my other favorite authors, David Mitchell.

XxAxX said:

Empress said:

I know what you mean. I don't think I could live up to her either. She's an awesome character. I love they way she deals with everything and her love of bush tea. Her relationship with her husband is entertaining too. I hope this series goes on for a while longer.

i have only two more books in the series, but i bet his other books (the series set in Scotland) are just as charming.

I've read a couple of those, too. They're good - but not as good as the African series.

Efan said:

Right now, I'm reading Ordinary Thunderstorms by one of my favorite authors, William Boyd. I have a long plane trip coming up next week, so I'm planning to pick up The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, by one of my other favorite authors, David Mitchell.

If readers surfacing from the hectic activity of Ordinary Thunderstorms's opening chapters suspect that William Boyd has set himself the straightforward task of producing an efficient, multi-stranded thriller, a clue soon emerges to hint at a more complex literary purpose. A plot strand involving the evil machinations of the global pharmaceutical industry introduces us to a drug named Zembla-4, the reference leading not only to the imaginary kingdom of Nabokov's Pale Fire but to Boyd's novel Armadillo, in which he coined the word "zemblanity" to describe unhappy accidents, random occurrences that are the very opposite of serendipitous. And in Lorimer Black, the reluctant hero who began Armadillo by stumbling across a hanged man, we find an antecedent to Adam Kindred, a similarly reasonably intentioned, middle-class chap whose attempt to perform a minor good deed catapults him into a world of assassination, capitalist conspiracy, low-life brutality and the bureaucratic minefield of contemporary life.

In brief: Adam, a climatologist in flight from America and a sexual indiscretion that has thrown a spanner into his marriage and his academic career, is in London for a job interview. Dining alone, he strikes up a conversation with Philip Wang, an immunologist who subsequently leaves a sheaf of papers in the restaurant; when Adam attempts to return them, he finds his new acquaintance taking a siesta with a bread knife in his side. A clever man, Kindred immediately does two stupid things: he removes the bread knife, thus ensuring both death and fingerprints, and goes on the run, pursued by Wang's killer. With a murderer and, shortly, the police on his trail, he creates a hidey-hole in an overshadowed piece of rough ground on the Embankment and settles down to a life of subterfuge, vagrancy and killing seagulls for dinner.

that sounds like a good read too.

i have really got to get out of my comfort zone and expand my horizons a bit more.

look at all the cool books i haven't read yet.

Genesia said:

XxAxX said:

i have only two more books in the series, but i bet his other books (the series set in Scotland) are just as charming.

I've read a couple of those, too. They're good - but not as good as the African series.

huh. i would have thoguht. but, even his second rate work is likely better than most

[img:$uid]http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i9/jgascot/personal/photo4.jpg[/img:$uid]

Very informative.

johnart said:

[img:$uid]http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i9/jgascot/personal/photo4.jpg[/img:$uid]

Very informative.

I like what I can see of your t-shirt! (And you're as adorable as always, of course.)

My 1st attempt at reading a horror novel(and my 1st introduction to Stephen King)....

[img:$uid]http://readingnow.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/the_shining2.jpg[/img:$uid]

I'm 1/2 way through it. I don't get scared easily, but I'm already feeling paranoid as HOLLY hell.

Nothinbutjoy said:

johnart said:

[img:$uid]http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i9/jgascot/personal/photo4.jpg[/img:$uid]

Very informative.

I like what I can see of your t-shirt! (And you're as adorable as always, of course.)

Thanks.

This is the whole shirt. Not trying to sell it to you just showing.

johnart said:

Nothinbutjoy said:

I like what I can see of your t-shirt! (And you're as adorable as always, of course.)

Thanks.

This is the whole shirt. Not trying to sell it to you just showing.

I know!

It's really nice!

Empress said:

XxAxX said:

real people. i feel like i actually know them.

yes, that's for sure. So simple, but so enjoyable too.

Have you read the Stieg Larsson trilogy? I really enjoyed it. I wouldn't normally read something like that, but my father in law got me into them and I was a bit surprised at how much I liked them. Not great literature, but a good story. My husband said he would never read them, but we talked him into it and he's now on book 3 and is enjoying it.

i've read the first two (finished the girl who played with fire this weekend - fantastic) and i'm taking a breath before i go on to book three. i find Larsson's work to be compelling, in that once i begin reading, i have to finish the story before i can do something else.

Genesia said:

XxAxX said:

me too. dusty and thirsty. sometime i want to find and drink some 'bush tea'.

You can find the tea anywhere. Just look for rooibos (pronounced roy'-boss). Almost every tea brand has at least one variety these days.

thank you. royboss it is

johnart said:

[img:$uid]http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i9/jgascot/personal/photo4.jpg[/img:$uid]

Very informative.

he looks like a kind fellow. does he give english lessons?