In Which A New Adventure Unfolds

I like to read. A lot. As a child, I loved the Little House on the Prairie books, The Bobbsey Twins, and Nancy Drew. There are books I can recall the plots but wish I could recall the title/author, because I'd love to introduce my children to those long-forgotten books. As I got older, I continued to read anything I could get my hands on - any genre, any author. It's the ultimate escape. While I do enjoy movies, I like reading better; I like imagining what the author has written as opposed to looking at someone else's interpretation.

The only times in my life I've put reading on hold were when my children were babies; then, once they hit about two years old, I would again indulge my need - my need to read... Well, baby #3 is now two and I'm off and reading again! While I do enjoy all types of books, for the last few months my preference has been paranormal, preferably paranormal romance, but I do stray occasionally into other categories.

I've been reading so much I decided the best way to remember and recommend (because after three kids my memory is shot!) is to blog about them. I would like to keep a running list of books I'm waiting for, and my bookshelf at this point is books I've read - if it's part of a series I only listed the first book; at this point it's mostly books I own, not necessarily all the books I've read. Really, I think this is for SIL, and myself to see if I can do it.

I'm not sure where to start...I've read so many books over the past few months - I'm thinking I'll start by doing a series review? Then move on to individual books as I read them maybe. Not really a review, more of a commentary, I guess?

I sort of have a mental system for how good a book is: Keep - meaning really good and I want to read it again, Good - meaning it was a good story but I'll probably donate the book to the library (the N.O. Public Library has not done a good job of restocking since Hurricane Katrina), or Bad - usually this is a book I can't seem to finish, often I'll read several other books while I'm reading it.

I like books with a bit of action, but not so much action that the heroine spends more time fighting bad guys than searching for clues or whatever it is that she does. I'm currently reading (making myself read, really) a Bad book (damnit, I'm going to finish it - I paid for it!!!) where, if the book is 350 pages, probably 315 of them are her fighting bad guys. Enough already- even though she is a vampire and heals, it does get old. Let her do something fun for a change. I finally put it off to the side, unfinished, and will try to get to it later, when I'm out of anything else to read.

And so, the adventure begins.....