NUMBERS

I was going over my bookshelf this weekend and made a list. I now own 114 unread books. That is not mentioning the 4 books that came into the post office today and are now in the car so I guess I own 118 I have read 34 books this year so far but have bought 58. Of the 58 I have read 18 the rest I already had. I'm not sure if I am making progress or not. I have been swapping books recently on paperbackswap which is a great site in my opinion and an easy way to trade off some books for credits. I have tried to keep track of the prices of the books I have bought but I didn't have the guts this weekend to find a total. I do know that a lot of the books on the list were bought used or swapped for free. I'm pretty sure that my overall total is going to rise soon because I have several books on the way as we speak. Hello...my name is Kathy.... and I am an addict.... If only we could get a support group together. Not only would a group provide moral support it could also triple as a book club and swap meet. Keep reading and I will do the same. I accept that I will never be one of those people to own or borrow one book at a time. There are just to many books and not nearly enough time.

Patterson

I have recently taken up James Patterson novels. Mass market thrillers are not my usual read and I don't often spend time on authors that crank out several books a year. Sure I read an occasional King book but for the most part mystery/thrillers aren't my think. I actually got Honeymoon on audio cd to start. I have a 40 minute commute to work and thought an book might be nice for a change( I live in Maine and good radio stations are hard to come by). I found myself almost to engrossed in the story to drive. Later a coworker who is a big fan of Patterson's claims that is one of his best books and I was glad to start with that. I decided to sample more and picked up 1ST TO DIE which is the first in his women's murder club series. I enjoyed this book almost as much as Honeymoon. I still have small problems with the cop thrillers as a whole. Some plot points seem a bit contrived but I was kept guessing to the end although I don't think the story itself was very probable. I am going to continue reading his books. I have ordered the second women's murder club series from paperbackswap.com and am going to slowly work my way through his other series. The problem I have with authors like this and the entire genre itself is that if I read to many in a row they all seem so similar and formula driven after awhile. I'm certain that as long as I mix in a good portion of my regular fiction and non-fiction choices I won't get bored to easily with his work. It certainly is easy to locate especially in used form. The most appealing thing about starting his work from the beginning is the amount of mass market paperback editions available will save me a bundle. I definitely think his works are worth reading. I have to hand it to Patterson because they all seem to be engrossing page turners and with short chapters its double easy to keep squeezing in a few more pages and chapters.