My reading has slowed down a bit as I’ve picked up my crafty life again but it’s ok. I enjoy both things greatly. And, I’ve been enjoying my recent read a lot but I’ve just looked at my calendar and realize that my mystery group is meeting next week.

Guess what? I haven’t start the book and I’m leading the discussion. Oh goodness. So I need to put aside my Maisie Dobbs book and start Cup of Ghosts by Paul Doherty. I do love historical mysteries but I tend to love historicals more in the 1800s through present day. This particular story is set in 1322.

So not only do I have to put Maisie aside but I have to go very far back in time. A time period I don’t think I’d ever want to visit even if time travel was possible. Ok, I’m being dramatic. I think the book will be interesting and it’s really just poor planning on my side.

But I do have a favor to ask you guys. My book group will be selecting a YA mystery to read in the Fall and we are going to be making book suggestions at this coming meeting. I read the occasional YA book but can’t think of a YA mystery so if you have one to recommend please let me know!

This past weekend I was in another part of town running some errands and had the chance to stop in Recycled Reads for a bit of browsing. The Recycled Reads store is the Austin library’s way of giving books a second chance. Most paperbacks are $1 and hardbacks $2. What a bargain right?

I didn’t have much time to browse around but I still managed to find three books I had to have:

• A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read. This is one of those books I had marked as a “must-read” a while back but of course have since forgotten why. Still a first in a mystery series so I like that.
• The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill. My mystery book group read one of these authors books but I missed the discussion. I believe everyone liked the book and some have since gone on to read more of the series and recommend it so I was happy to find this one.
• The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain. Overview: In 1977, pregnant Genevieve Russell disappeared. Twenty years later, her remains are discovered and Timothy Gleason is charged with murder. But there is no sign of the unborn child.CeeCee Wilkes knows how Genevieve Russell died, because she was there. Sounds like a good drama ahead.

I’ve also received quite a few review copies which I feel slightly guilty about as I haven’t done much in the way of book reviews lately but I’ll tell you about some of them in another post. It’s been interesting been off the book blogging world for a while as I feel like I don’t know what’s the new “it” book. In a way, it is kind of neat as it reminds me of how I used to find my new books to read before blogland. But I am finally dipping back into blogland and it is so nice to visit with you.

I mentioned in my previous post that I am taking an art journaling class so I wanted to share with you another of my recent pages. For this one I found inspiration from the supermoon we had this weekend and poetry, as usual.

The poem is actually I Watched the Moon Around the House by Emily Dickinson which is lovely and I hope she’ll forgive me because I played around with it. I took out lines and moved some to the beginning. I’m still working on this page but you get the idea.

I wanted to do some journaling today but it’s actually been all about cleaning up my studio space. I have two big tables and half of the time I feel like I’m working on a teeny, tiny spot. I love how my studio looks right now. So inviting. But now it’s getting late and I want to catch up on my reading. I just started Elegy For Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear and you know how much I love the Maisie Dobbs series.

Next time I’ll let you know what I found at Recycled Reads. Have a great start of the week!