The book purge has slowed a little bit now that I’ve visited the library and brought books with limited shelf life into the house.  Technically speaking, borrowing library books is a violation of the “no new books brought into the house before finishing the purge” policy but since I can’t keep them permanently, it’s not like I’m *adding* to the backlog.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Also on the purge:  I think I got rid of my copy of The Reluctant Fundamentalist.  Or maybe it was a library book?  Either way, I can’t find it on my shelves or in any of the overflow bins.  The movie is playing at the independent theater near me, and I am curious to see how faithful the adaptation is (and whether I feel as ambivalent about the film as I did the book) but I can’t find my old copy for a quick re-read in anticipation of viewing the movie.

Shame. I’d love to hear an audiobook of T&D with properly accented narration.

Minion by L.A. Banks.  Urban fantasy.  If I had read this when it came out, when it was new and original, before vampires were so done, I might have loved it.  But at this late date my patience for vampire hunters is nil and the opening was so over the top melodramatic that it was easy to set it aside for the donation box.

Beast by Donna Jo Napoli.  YA fantasy.  Liked the idea, but Napoli’s voice/style didn’t work for me.

An Experiment in Treason by Bruce Alexander.  Historical mystery.  Tedious set up of the mystery, so bored.

Dead North by Sue Henry.  Mystery.  I like the idea of an Alaskan set mystery and a dog-sledding protagonist.  But the details about settling into an RV and driving from Idaho to Alaska? Not so interesting.  The material may have improved once she got further down the road, but I didn’t hang around to find out.

I’m most of the way through Death in Hyde Park by Robin Paige (Edwardian mystery).  If I had realized that Paige was the pseudonym or Susan Wittig Albert and her husband, I would not have started this book:  her books have never worked for me.  This one isn’t terrible — mostly because I find the secondary characters interesting — but the irritating footnotes to remind readers that they can purchase the books covering the Sheridans’ other mystery adventures come across as a “BUY ME” arrow that is really off-putting.

Once it’s finished, my reward will be the new Carla Kelly historical.

Also, I read Undeclared by Jen Frederick.  It was…less than impressive.  In dire need of content and copy editing, and a heroine who wasn’t spineless.  The characters were nominally in college, but that setting seemed to be selected primarily to remove any parental supervision and give them freedom to drink and have sex (which, okay, college — but in no other way was college life involved in the plot).  I had problems with the set up of the relationship between the h/h, mostly the unconvincing backstory or the way they were MFEO — there was a lot of telling but not much showing.  It was a C- book at best for me, closer to a D+.  I kept reading for the train wreck factor.

Sacred by Dennis Lehane.  Why haven’t I read more by him?  Really liked this early installment of the Kenzie-Gennaro series.  And it’s a UBS find based on the handwritten price on the inside flap.

The issue of getting an heir was, in fact, the last thing on his mind, even though he was the last of a very distinguished name.  Until his journey to Yorkshire it had been a matter of utter indifference to Magnus if his name and title ended with him.

The standard situation for title romance heroes is that they must have an heir in order to pass their title/property/what-have-you.  I suppose the logic is that if you are inherently better and deserving of your class or station, it is your duty to continue the family line, protect the assets, etc.  There are the occasional heroes in Romancelandia who aren’t obliged to continue the family tradition, but they are generally not dukes or lords.  The big exception I can think of off-hand is Simon in Julia Quinn’s The Duke and I.  I don’t know, maybe Magnus has a valid reason to be indifferent to the ultimate disposition of his estates and its dependents; but that indifference seems to me like a violation or negation of the social contract underlying his position in Society, which he does seem to enjoy otherwise.

I find the Stephen King quote (“JD Robb is cool.”) on the cover of Strangers in Death to be too personal, directed toward the author rather than the work and also just a little weird.

Salvation in Death has blurbs specific to the book from Lisa Scottoline, Andrew Gross, Linda Fairstein, and Kathy Reichs.  Plus a general endorsement from Janet Evanovich…which seems out of place in context, both in terms of content and author-type.

Why do the back covers of some books have passages from the book, while others have author photos?  And the author photos themselves — has anyone ever done a survey of the evolution of NR/Robb’s author photos?  Because they are fascinating and say a lot about the content of the books and the marketing approach (even without the brouhaha of Robb possibly trying to look Dallas-ish in a long leather duster).

I have (had) the entire series but for the most recent book; I’ll be keeping about a dozen early books in the series that were originally published in mass market paperback, plus two later books following the move to hard cover. The rest of the hard covers and a few paperbacks will be heading to the donation bin.

Nor any drop to drink.

Well, that’s exaggerated.  But the sentiment holds:  despite having a plethora of books, including a gigantic pile to skim in order to keep or discard, I feel like I have nothing to read.  Or to put it more accurately, nothing that I *want* to read right now.

The new Carla Kelly western historical is waiting on my Kindle and a paper copy of Roberts’s Whiskey Beach is sitting on my kitchen table (better than 50% off with various B&N discounts and coupons!) but neither book appeals at the moment.

I’m about halfway through Scahill’s Dirty Wars but need something lighter to offset it for the moment.  Surely there is something — anything – in the massive paper and electronic TBR that would appeal?

It’s actually not a bad tally, given my preoccupation with packing and moving.

1.  Nightfall by Ellen Connor.  Post-apocalyptic romance.

2.  Third You Die by Kevin Conner.  Mystery, gay fiction.

3.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah.  YA, set in Australia, narrator is of Palestinian descent.  Enjoyed it.

4.  Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Robyn Donald.  Category.

5.  Fettered by Lyn Gala.  M/m, BDSM.  Ambivalent about the plot and the instalove, as well as the punctuation abuse.

6.  Beautiful Sacrifice by Elizabeth Lowell.  Romantic suspense.

7.  Far in the Wilds by Deanna Raybourn.  Novella teaser for her new post-War Africa-set book.  Okay but not enough to get me to read her again — the Lady Julia series went so far off the rails for me that I’m not sure I’ll ever  be willing to try her again.

8 – 10.  Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dearly Devoted Dexter, and Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay.  Started well but tailed off for me.

11.  The Millionaire’s Virgin Mistress by Robyn Donald.  Category.  Meh.

12.  Steel’s Edge by Ilona Andrews.  Fantasy romance.  Liked it better than the previous Edge book.

13.  Innocent Mistress, Royal Wife by Robyn Donald.  Category.  This plot made absolutely no sense, even for a Presents.

14.  The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Ericksson.  Mystery.  DNF.  Too slow, set it aside.

15.  Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson.  Enjoyed this debut mystery from a Swedish writer (new to me).

16.  Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill.  Urban fantasy.  Meh.

17.  The Cubicle Next Door by Siri Mitchell.  Inspirational chick lit.  Re-read.

18.  Bad Attitude by K.A. Mitchell.  Contemporary m/m.  Liked it.

Bad Attitude by K.A. Mitchell.  I’m far from an impartial judge of this author’s work, so I’ll just say that I enjoyed this book as fiction but also because I love the bits of Baltimore in the story.  The places the MCs live (or want to live) say a lot about who they are.

JD Robb’s In Death series — I’ve been skimming chunks of these books.  I have the entire series, including the original paperback versions and first edition hardbacks when they made that jump.  I’ll be keeping about a dozen of the books, mostly paperbacks that predate the change to hard cover, and passing the rest on.

As I’ve unpacked the boxes (and boxes and boxes) of books, I’ve set aside about 50 more books to read or pass on in addition to the In Death books.  And there are still five large bins of books to go…