2011 Books Read, a List

Keeping track of all the books I've read this year. At least, that's the plan.

So far: (*books reviewed)

1. Random Acts of Senseless Kindness, a novelette by Graham Parke, eBook
2. Crashed (The Junior Bender Series) by Timothy Hallinan, eBook
3. Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson, eBook
4. 9 Gold Bullets (Vincent Calvino Crime Novel)by Christopher G. Moore, eBook
5. The Lotus Eaters: A Novel by Tatjana Soli*
6. To Be the Poet (The William E. Massey, Sr. Lectures in the History of American Civilization) by Maxine Hong Kingston
7. Enlightenment for Idiots: A Novel by Anne Cushman*
8. Delirious by Daniel Palmer*
9. A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer*
10. Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris*
11. The Sari Shop Widow by Shoban Bantwal*
12. Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut: Essays and Observations by Jill Kargman
13. Murder in Passy: An Aimee Leduc Investigation Set in Paris by Cara Black
14. Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan*
15. Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth by Lisa Napoli*
16.  Beaglemania (A Pet Rescue Mystery) by Linda O. Johnston*
17. Dead Light District by Jill Edmondson*
18. I Love a Broad Margin to My Life by Maxine Hong Kingston
19. Red Jade: A Detective Jack Yu Investigation by Henry Chang*
20. A Red Herring Without Mustard: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley*
21.Threads West: An American Saga by Reid Lance Rosenthal*
22. Call Me Irresistible: A Novel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
23. Cat Sitter Among the Pigeons: A Dixie Hemingway Mystery (Dixie Hemingway Mysteries) by Blaize Clement*
23. Zero Day: A Novel by Mark Russinovich*
24. Fashion Unraveled: How To Start, Run And Manage An Independent Fashion Label by Jennifer Lynne Matthews*
25. Shift; 13 Exercises to Make You Who You Want to Be by Takumi Yamazaki*
26. 



 
There will be another list for book reviews!

In My Mailbox

I have my holiday reading cut out for me. Another book in the mail to add to the list.

Love in Mid Air: A Novel by Kim Wright, a romance
The Last Surgeon by Michael Palmer, a thriller
truly, madly by Heather Webber, a romance
mennonite in a little black dress by Rhoda Janzen, fiction
The Cuban Chronicles by Wanda St. Hilaire, travel memoir

In addition, there are about four half-finished books that I also plan to finish, hell or high water, as the saying goes. I actually am enjoying them, not at all gritting my teeth while I read. They're interesting books; I'm just a Book Dilettante.

Asian American Literary Awards

Here are some books that have recently won awards from the Asian American Writers Workshop.
2008 Winners
Mohsin Hamid The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Harcourt, 2007
Vijay Prashad The Darker Nations, New Press, 2007
Sun Yung Shin Skirt Full of Black, Coffee House Press, 2007
Ed Lin * This Is a Bust, Kaya Press, 2007

2007 Winners
Linh Dinh Borderless Bodies, Factory School, 2006
Amitav Ghosh Incendiary Circumstances: A Chronicle of the Turmoil of Our Times, Houghton Mifflin, 2006
Samrat Upadhyay The Royal Ghosts, Houghton Mifflin, 2006
Gene Yuen Yang* American Born Chinese, First Second Books, 2006

The 2009 Asian American Literary Awards will be announced later this year. Earlier awards are listed at
AAWW Awards

Antique Lovers, Archaeology mysteries

Cocooning Book List No. 3 - for those who would rather read about something less present and alive (see lists 1 and 2).


1.Tamar Myers, The Ming and I, Monet Talks, The Cane Mutiny, Den of Antiquity mysteries (highly recommended)

2. Lynn Hamilton, Moai Murders, The Thai Amulet, archaeology mysteries set in exotic locales

3. Deborah Morgan, The Majolica Murders, antique lovers mystery.

4. Jane K. Cleland, Consigned to Death, antique lovers mystery.

5. Claire Taschdjian, The Peking Man is Missing, paleontology mystery set in China.


6. Dana Cameron, A Fugitive Truth, archaeology mystery.

7.Michael Pearce, Night of the Pasha: A Mamur Zapt Mystery, Egypt in the early 1900s.



8. Elizabeth Peters, Lions in the Valley and Laughter of Dead Kings (very popular mystery novels in the Amelia Peabody Egyptology series)

Pet and Animal Mystery books

Here is Cocooning Book List No. 2.
This one has pet/animal/veterinarian themes.

1. Tortoise Soup, Jessica Speart, wildlife mystery

2. Murder with Peacocks, Donna Andrews (recommend this one as a very funny book).

3. Stud Rites, Susan Conant, malamute owner.

4. Hush Puppy, Lauren Berenson, owner of standard poodles

5. Ten Little Bloodhounds, by the late Virginia Lanier, bloodhounds used in detecting. (Highly recommended series)

6. Murder Most Beastly, Melissa Cleary

7. Curiousity Killed the Cat Sitter, Blaize Clement, petsitter mystery

8. Meow is for Murder, Linda O. Johnson

9. Putting on the Dog, Cynthia Baxter, veterinary mystery

10. Murder on the Iditarod Trail, Sue Henry, Alaskan dog musher mystery

11. The Anteater of Death, Betty Web, a Gunn Zoo zookeeper mystery.

12. Whiskey on the Rocks, Nina Wright, Aghan hound owner


13. Cat mysteries by Carole Nelson, Rita Mae Brown, Garrison Allen, Lillian Jackson Braun, and Shirley Rousseau Murphy. (Some of these authors write about very cute talking cats).

Somehow I can't get excited about cats that talk. Dog writers don't have their pets conversing in human as cat writers do. Maybe that's because dogs are natural, super nonverbal communicators.

Garden Mysteries, a list

At the suggestion of a friend and loyal blog reader, I am putting together a list of mystery books I recommend for winter reading.

It's called my Cocooning Book List --- for those who would rather stay indoors and read rather than go downhill skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, cross country skiing, sledding, tobogganing, or walking around in the parks.

Okay, so maybe going out and exercising is better... sometimes. However, you may also enjoy these.

1. Ann Ripley, Death of a Political Plant and Mulch, with excellent gardening tips.

2. Mary Freeman, Deadly Nightshade and Bleeding Heart, gardening mystery

3. John Sherwood, Creeping Jenny and The Hanging Garden, horticulturalist mysteries set in England

4. Michelle Wan, The Deadly Slipper < and The Orchid Shroud are set in the Dordogne region of France and the world of exotic orchids.

5. Susan Orleans, The Orchid Thief, a non-fiction book.
6. Frank Kingston Ward, In the Land of the Blue Poppies, non-fiction book on searching for plants in the Himalayas.

7. Janis Harrison, Deadly Bouquet, gardening mystery

8. Joyce and Jim Lavene, Fruit of the Poisoned Tree , garden mystery

9. Audrey Stallsmith, Rosemary for Remembrance, a Thyme Will Tell mystery. Enjoyable mystery by a master gardener

My favorite garden mystery writer is Ann Ripley, not only for her excellent plots but also for her gardening tips and suggestions. I also recommend John Sherwood.