Earlier this year I was reading one book at a time but lately I’ve been back to having multiple books going on. Here are the books I’ve been spending time with these days.

Accidents Happen by Louise Millar – From the jacket blurb: “Kate Parker has weathered unimaginable horrors. Her parents died in a traffic accident on her wedding night, and her husband was murdered. All she has left is her young son and she’s determined to make a better future for him.” Of course as soon as you start reading this book you realize that Kate’s actions to keep her son safe are a bit extreme. This is my lunch hour book so it’s taking me a while to make progress but I am very interested in how it ends.

The Rules of Engagement by Anita Brookner – From the jacket blurb: “Elizabeth and Betsy had been school friends in 1950s London. Elizabeth, prudent and introspective, values social propriety. Betsy, raised by a spinster aunt, is open, trusting and desperate for affection.” Brookner’s novels are so rich in character details that you feel like you really know who these women are. I’m finding out a lot about both of these women.

No Mark Upon Her by Deborah Crombie – From the jacket blurb: “A riveting police procedural featuring Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James where they investigate the puzzling drowning of a rower, a Met detective, on the Thames.” I’ve recently started this one and so far it’s been a bit harder to get into but I’m hoping it’ll turn around soon.

The Best American Poetry, 2012 by Mark Doty and David Lehman – From the jacket blurb: “The poems chosen for this collection are poems of high moral earnestness and poems in a comic register; poems that tell stories and poems that test the boundaries of innovative composition.” A poem I will probably add to my personal collection is “Terminal Nostalgia” by Sherman Alexie.

What about you, how many books are you reading right now and which is your favorite so far?

We spent a great afternoon at Barnes & Noble yesterday and I was super excited because I found a new issue of Art Journaling magazine (not the one pictured in the link – I found the Summer 2013 edition) and they also had the BN Classics on sale. Buy two and get one free, yep, I needed some classics.

• Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
• The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Grimm’s Fairy Tales

Kind of different choices for me but I’m excited about them.

I stayed up late Saturday night finishing Eleanor and Park and it was so good. I’ll try to post a review soon. It’s one of those books that you are rushing towards to the end because you hope it’ll end like you want it to but at the same time you don’t want to get to the last page either.

No bookbinding happened over the weekend. I just wasn’t really in the mood but I did go to yoga for a very wonderful relaxation class. While I waited for class to start I wandered around looking through some of the books and found Love Poems from God and scanned a few poems. Oh wow, some powerful stuff. Later in the evening I thought about the book again and searched the Austin Public library catalog and they have it! I put a hold on it and can’t wait to get it.

I love finding a book I must check out in an unexpected place.