Three Cups of Tea

by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver.

I started this book Sunday, it's a true story about the work Greg Mortenson has done in Northern Pakistan, creating schools for children. I'm only in the beginning but I'm enjoying it so far, the writer does a good job jumping around a bit to keep it interesting. I may get interrupted to read something lighter in the middle but so far it's great bedtime reading!


I finished this around the beginning of April and immediately recommended it to my fiance. The book is great, slow in the beginning, I almost put it down at one point but it really picked up in the second half.

What got really interesting is how Greg Mortenson was in Pakistan near the Afghan border during 9/11. His fight against terrorism from an educational point of view is amazing and I whole heartedly agreed with everything he had to say in this book and I wish everyone would read this book. I highly recommend it!

My fiance is about halfway through and he's enjoying it so far!

Garden Spells

by Sarah Addison Allen.

This book is awesome. It falls under the same category that I would put Like Water for Chocolate. Some mystique, some magic, some love, some loss. Great character development and so much fun with a touch of magic throughout.

I picked this up as a new start Friday night, planning to get a good hour before bed in. Next thing I know it's almost 2am and I decided I couldn't put it down until I finished it (4am) so it's another 5 hour read! I was enchanted and fell in love with the characters. It was extremely satisfying!

Next up I started Jodi Picoult's newest book "Change of Heart" last night and got a good 4 hours into it - not even halfway yet! It's very good, I'm not sure where it's going to go, whenever I read her books they feel predictable, like I can't be satisfied because I just know how it will end but she ALWAYS surprises me so I hold on. Generally it's not a sacrifice since the characters are so well done, this is no different. Of course all these late nights and my head is mad at me (read: Migraine) so today has not been fun trying to work!

The Code Book

I have not yet finished Water for Elephants but I've been sidetracked. I'm taking a cryptography course and one of the books for the course is "The Code Book" by Simon Singh. I started reading it last weekend and it's a fabulous read. It details cryptography throughout history, how it was used, how it was broken and what impact historically it had.

If you have an interest in history and math I highly recommend this book. I hope to get back to Water for Elephants after this one.

Edited to add: I did finish the Code Book - at the very end of Feb. It was an excellent read! I forgot to post about it - I know by the weekend of march 3rd I had picked up water for elephants again.

Snow Flower started

I decided to start Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.

So far I'm enthralled. I'm only a couple of chapters in but it's hard to put down and does remind me of how I felt reading Memoirs of a Geisha. I really enjoy getting to know new people that have such different lives than I do. It's a learning experience as well as an enjoyment!

Audio books:
Well I finished Imitation in death a while back and then listened to Remember When which is a crossover between Nora Roberts and JD Robb, short but very enjoyable. There was some confusion in the beginning with ordering of events but I ignored it.
Now I've started Divided in Death and it as always keeping my commute very enjoyable!

Vacation Reading

Well vacation is always full of reading! In the book world I finished up the Cell.

The Cell by Stephen King. I really enjoyed this book, it was gruesome which is to be expected but it flows along nicely and you really get to know the characters. That being said I hated the ending! It just ended ubruptly. I honestly think more could have been done at the end, some sort of epilogue, anything.

Next up I started "We Need to talk about Kevin" by Lionel Shriver. I'm not very far into it and it was recommended to me by multiple people. It's captured my attention so far so we'll see how it goes.

Audiobooks:
Well the JD Robb In Death series continues, I finished up Judgement in Death and Betrayal in Death (as well as Interlude in Death) before going to Maine.
In Maine we listened to Seduction in Death and Reunion in Death.
I enjoyed them all and I'm thoroughly enjoying the current one Purity in Death.
This is a fun easy series and it's always fun to guess "who did it".

That's my book progress so far. Reading is really slow these past few months but that's not surprising with everything else going on.

New Start - Kalahari Typing School for Men

Well I'm back to listening to the #1 Ladies Detective Agency on tape during my drive. These go very quickly. It is a series by Alexander McCall Smith and this is the 4th in the series. I have 5, 6 and 7 all in tape form from my mom as well.

I always enjoy this series, a little mystery and a lot of fun! Once these are done I may go back to the trilogy that is Dragons :) but i want to get some of these done and back to my mom since I have no actual book case space for them!