TJ's Supernatural Readings

Sorry to have missed book club this month.... Even though I missed it, I wanted to share with you the books I read for this month. I was busy... when I first heard that we were supposed to read a supernatural theme I was reluctant since I'd read Harry Potter and Twilight and the Outlander series... Until Dawn shared with me her thoughts of a book right up my alley. They are part of a new series and there's only three of them so far. It is the Sugar Maple Series. About a town called Sugar Maple and it inhabitants are vampires, witches, werewolves, shapeshifters, selkies etc... it is protected by Chloe a sorceress-in-training who owns a Knitting Shop. YEP! Right up my alley.
Author: Barbara Bretton
Book #1: Casting Spells
Book #2: Laced with Magic
Book #3: Spun by Sorcery
I have reads books 1 & 2 and today started #3, They are written very well and has a little of everything. The action is written so well that I couldn't put the book down. Definitely great reads!!!!!

I also listened to the following audiobooks that were amazing:

The Postmistress By: Sarah Blake
This book is about 3 different women at the beginning of WWII. And their perspectives on the War and life. One is a postmistress, one is a doctors wife and one is an American reporter stationed in England. Very well written and I really enjoyed it.




The Kings Speech By: Mark Logue & Peter Conradi
This is a true story and one that the Academy Award winning Movie was based on. I enjoyed the movie very much and so was excited to listen to this story to get more of the story and details.

I think this last month was a real record for me. 4 books and starting a 5th... Not sure what I am going ot read for next month for the classics or classics with a twist... very exciting.

NPR/Nancy Pearl Lists

We discussed Nancy Pearl and NPR reading lists. I did some google-foo and while I found summer reading lists and rainy day reading lists, I did not find one by her for classical literature lists.

The main Nancy Pearl site is here.

The NPR site for Nancy Pearl is here. If you scroll down, there are some links to some of her reading lists.

**If you're a knitter, you can come visit my knitting site here.

Karen B.

March 2011 - Theme: supernatural

Here is a list of the books discussed this month.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
Juliet Naked by Nick Hornby
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Great House by Nicole Krauss (not highly recommended)
Spun by Sorcery by Barbara Bretton
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
The Stand by Stephen King
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
American Indian Ghost Stories of the Southwest by Antonio R. Garcez

And we discussed some old favorites like the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, and Game Change.

The theme for April will be Classics (with or without a twist).

Salute to Menopause

I started experiencing the symptoms of perimenopause much earlier in my life than most women do. So after 8 years now of hot flashes, mood swings, forgetfulness, and many other symptoms I finally decided to read up on the subject. The following is a list of the books I looked at and my impressions of them.

• The Wisdom of Menopause by Christiane Northrup - lots of emotional support, not the information I was looking for, good for women embarking on spiritual journeys.


• The Only Menopause Guide You'll Need by Michele Moore - brilliant layout of information, first 3 chapters very helpful, rest of the book goes into detail about different treatment options.


• What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause by John R. Lee - table of contents scared me away, 22 chapters and over 400 pages.


• Living Well With Menopause by Carolyn Chambers Clark - 60 pages of introductory information, 150 pages of holistic approaches, 40 pages of "creating your menopause plan", NOT for me.


• The New Menopause Book by Mary Tagliaferri, Isaac Cohen, and Debu Tripathy - wonderful reference book, organized by symptom, lots of information on western medicine, herbal medicine, and traditional Chinese medicine


• The Everything Menopause Book by Ramona Slupik with Lorna Gentry- excellent presentation of information for those of us with short attention spans or short bursts of time for reading, but repetitive if read from cover to cover.

The books listed above were all checked out from the King County Library. The one I had to buy because the library didn't have it was Menopause Sucks: What to Do When Hot Flashes Make You and Everyone Else Miserable by Joanne Kimes and Elaine Ambrose. I bought it based on the title alone and have saved it for last. I will start reading it tomorrow, or tonight if the insomnia strikes again. Happy Flashing!

What I Read This Month

Alone by Lisa Gardner
Decked by Carol Higgins Clark
Sink Trap by Christy Evans
Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin
Lead-pipe Cinch by Christy Evans
Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell
Hide by Lisa Gardner
Knitting Bones by Monica Ferris

For the catagory of Supernatural:
The Devil’s Hearth by Phillip DePoy
Don of the Dead by Casey Daniels