Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

Song of the Witches by William Shakespeare

Happy Halloween everyone! I’ve got lots of candy and am ready to see some trick-or-treaters. Last year we had quite a bunch show up at our house.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to my R.I.P. read but I’m actually reading another book that I think would fit, The Cradle In the Grave by Sophie Hannah. It hasn’t been as suspenseful as I was hoping for but I do like that I’m not sure which character I believe. I like it when one minute you think one is the bad guy and the next you are certain it’s someone else.

Anyway, stay tuned because next up I’ve got some booklists. I was at the bookstore this weekend and I have added some new books to my radar.

I was trying to place a library hold a few days ago and found out my library card was expired – the horror! I had been on a bit of a library ban so I could read more from my stacks but I didn’t realize just how long it had been so today I decided that I needed to renew my library card and visit the stacks.

I only checked out three books but I think I found some good ones. Let me know if you’ve read any of these:

• The Cradle In The Grave by Sophie Hannah. I know a lot of readers enjoy Hannah’s books and although I was a bit disappointed with one I read years ago I keep thinking this is an author I need to try again. From the tagline of the book: Two mothers say crib death. One doctor says murder.
• The Very Thought Of You by Rosie Alison. I wanted a book set in England and this historical novel looks promising. It was also shortlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction.
• Miss New India by Bharati Mukherjee. Haven’t read any books by this author and she’s been one on my list for a while. This is about a young woman setting off to Bangalore, India to take charge of her own destiny.

I’m looking forward to starting one of these books this weekend. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Between lots of work, family visits, and a quick trip to Dallas, it’s been a busy and tiring two weeks. I’m kind of ready to hop back on a plane to Germany to recapture my vacation. I miss being around my blog and all of you but it has been a bit stressful around here lately.

Are things changing? Well, this weekend I finally have a free weekend. I won’t have to go to the office (keeping my fingers crossed) so that’s a start!

It hasn’t all been that bad but I needed to vent a bit so hope you don’t mind. The good stuff is that I did go to the Texas Book Festival and heard Amitav Ghosh talk about his new book, River of Smoke, I met up with my mystery book group last week and we had a lively discussion on The Man From Beijing and I just found out there’s a new used bookstore in town that I have to discover. Yay.

So, here’s hoping this blog finally starts to see some regular posts! Thank you lovelies!