March book groups

For Lit with Lunch, I read Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was the bestselling book of the 19th century, except for the Bible, and it is almost as long and almost as preachy. :) And excellent novel though, and I highly recommend it. 629 pages.

And this month's Jane Austen was the gothic satire Northanger Abbey. Julie led the book group this month and I learned cool stuff from her presentation about other gothic novels. (Some of which, about the authors Radcliff and Lewis, already came in handy when a description in the next book I started reading mentioned that the house was better suited to one of their novels!) I listened to the audiobook narrated by Flo Gibson - delightful accent! 7.5 hours.

romance contests!

I love helping judge romance novel contest, because it's a great excuse to devote a few evenings to enjoying some escapist romance novels that I might not have picked up otherwise. This year I got 4 Harlequins to read, mostly SuperRomances.
I read
Maybe, Baby by Terry McLaughlin 281 pages
Could Been a Cowboy by Brenda Novak 275 pages
Mr. Irresistible by Karina Bliss 279 pages
A Little Bit Guilty by Jenna Milla 251 pages.
I already mailed in my scores, based on "Is this a good story and is it told well?" and trying to ignore any personal bias about professions, settings, etc. Always a fun exercise to think about!

City of Dreaming Books

This illustrated novel by Walter Moers is just delightful and otherwise quite indescribable.
456 pages.