Ahh, I’m feeling so much better now that my books have been set free from their boxes and are once again on the shelves. I’m so sorry I’ve been out of touch with everyone but I’ve been busy moving. We had a few snafus but for the most part everything went well. There is still much to be done but that will wait for later.

For now, I love that I’m only a few minutes from a Half Price Bookstore and Book People. My bookgirl radar was definitely on when we found our apartment. I can’t wait to fully discover Austin again. It’s been a long time since I’ve lived there but I’m excited about going back to favorites and getting reacquainted with the city.

Now I’ve got to pack a suitcase because tomorrow we are off to Germany. Actually, the clothes I can throw in quickly, it’s deciding on which books to take which takes some time.

This time around I’m hoping to do a bit of blogging while I’m away and of course blog visiting. I’ve missed you guys. So hope everyone is doing great and more book talk soon!

Unfortunately, I think my monkey mind of late has been interfering a lot with my reading. I’ve had to give up on two books that I think I would have normally enjoyed but I couldn’t get into. So I’ll save The Wrong Kind of Blood and The Cruelest Month for another time.

I was going to get very concerned about my state of mind but I picked up Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn and have been thoroughly enjoying it. In between running errands, cleaning and sorting stuff for the move I keep thinking about the book and want to go back to it. Perhaps I just needed to spend some time with one of my favorite eras.

And, I shouldn’t complain too much because on the weekend I did escape to the bookstore for a couple of hours. I miss seeing my books out on the shelves so I pretended that the B&N bookshelves were all mine and petted the books. Anyway, I came away with lots of titles to add to my wish list. Here’s what I added:

• Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
• The Outcast by Sadie Jones
• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
• Shakespeare’s Kitchen by Lore Segal
• A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley
• La Perdida by Jessica Abel
• Remembering the Bones by Frances Itani
• Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
• Blood Kin by Ceridwen Dovey
• Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee

Let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you though or if some of these are also on your wish list.

And, this is totally crazy but tomorrow I have to take my car in for a routine maintenance check and can you believe I’m actually looking forward to that? I can’t wait to have a couple of free hours to just read – whee! I’m taking a couple of books and a mug of yummy coffee. I think I’ll be set.