What I'm Reading

My getaway weekend also allowed me the chance to read another fun book: Josie Brown's Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives. I had read some feedback about the book that compared it to the show, Desperate Housewives, and I suppose to a certain extent there is a resemblance. On the outside, the book takes place in a wealthy, idyllic community, while below the surface the relationships are cutthroat and dysfunctional and couldn't be farther removed from their appearances. In this book, as so often happens in real life, you see how people create more harm to and problems for themselves and it is validating to see that in this story the most "normal" people triumph in the end.

It is a fun and quick read and if you miss the souped up drama on Wisteria Lane, you'll no doubt savor this book.

xoxo,

bex

What I'm Reading

It seems the only opportunity I have for reading these days is if I take some vacation time and get away from my day-to-day. I am working on fixing that! Over my weekend getaway I had a chance to tackle my TBR pile and came across Crossing Washington Square by Joanne Rendell. Since I work in academia, I am drawn to books with academic settings and this is the second of hers that I've read set in the fictional world of Manhattan University.

Academia is (still) an interesting place for women and the tension in making it as a female professor is a great backdrop in which to explore the relationship between an established scholar and an up and coming star. That these two women have more in common than they realize helps set them on a path to heal their personal hurts and bring them together from their once diametrical opposing positions.

It's a story about friendship and healing, love and success. And who doesn't want that?!

xoxo,

bex

What I'm Reading

I recently saw the movie, The Conspirator, and came away realizing how little I knew about that period in our country's history. A while back, my fellow Muse blogger, Barb Wallace, recommended the book, Manhunt: The 12-Day Hunt for Lincoln's Killer so when I had the chance to start reading my next book I borrowed it from the boyfriend. I got hooked pretty quick and was riveted by James L. Swanson's tale.

His writing of the accounts of those twelve days was riveting, but equally impressive was the meticulous research he undertook to get as much detail as possible. Reading the book felt more like reading a suspense novel than a nonfiction book.

Even if you're not interested in history, this book will hold your interest captive.

xoxo,

bex

What I'm Reading

I just finished another great book that was laugh-out-loud funny. I had Meg Cabot's The Boy Next Door somewhere in my TBR pile for over a year, and when I found myself wanting something different for my latest read I knew this was the one. The story is told completely in email format, and the tale unfolds in the sharing of messages between the different characters in the book. It is a quick and easy read, but the writer in me can only imagine how incredibly difficult it must have been to maintain the story thread with this format and using so many different points of view. Of course, it's Meg Cabot and her adept hand does this masterfully.

What a fun and funny book!

xoxo,

bex

What I'm Reading

Several years ago I read Frederick Forsythe's book, The Day of the Jackal, and I loved it so much I was eager to read more books just like it. I shortly thereafter found The Bourne series by Robert Ludlum, but after the third in that series it started to peter out for me. By chance, a few years later, I stumbled upon a book by Ted Bell that set up a similar kind of spy adventure series, an almost even better series than the ones I had previously read. That's when I fell for the dashing Alex Hawke, and became enamored with his cast of colleagues - Ambrose Congreve, Stokely Jones, Harry Brock, and Stoke's sidekick, Sharky. Part English aristocracy, part James Bond, part British and U.S. special forces, part independent mercenary contractors, this thrilling series spans the globe with a team of likable and brave heroes fighting the bad guys in our modern world. Warlord was the most recent installment in Alex Hawke's story, and I couldn't read it fast enough. If you haven't check it out, head straight to your local bookstore or library and get your hands on some Ted Bell.

xoxo,

bex