Wool and Spice

When I saw this week’s topic I panicked. I’m supposed to have a reading list? Who knew? I wondered who could be that organized, particularly in summer and with gardening and the Tour de Fleece looming.

So it’s a good thing it’s Tuesday because it forced me to come up with 10 books on my summer reading list. And I’m looking forward to recommendations from the lists of other bloggers more organized than me (scroll down to the list).

1. The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I just finished this last week. Honestly? I don’t have any interest in reading the other two. Does that make me weird? They’re so popular right now and it was entertaining enough but I didn’t find the characters believable. Or likable.
2. Where Memories Lie by Deborah Crombie. The latest in the Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid series, a British whodunit by a writer from Texas. I read this a few days ago. Crombie always delivers a good summertime read.
3. Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris. A mystery set in Saudi Arabia with a male detective and a female lab technician. The cultural references should be quite interesting.
4. A Dyer’s Garden: From Plant to Pot, Growing Dyes for Natural Fibers by Rita Buchanan. This is on its way to me. I’m looking forward to finding a new experiment for next year’s garden.
5. The Last Child by John Hart. Winner of the 2010 Edgar Award for best new mystery.
6. Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs by Whitney Cranshaw. After reading this, maybe I’ll have a better idea if the bug I just squished unmercifully was a good ‘un or a bad ‘un.
7. Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
8. The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley
9. The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin
10. Cotton Comes to Harlem by Chester Himes

These last four are from the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the (20th) Century that I’m slowly working my way through. Some of them are hard to find because they’re out of print, but with a few exceptions, this list hasn’t steered me wrong yet.