The Chisellers by Brendan O'Carroll

Torment by Lauren Kate

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

It's a thriller set in a cloistered world, one hiding a secret society, all of which guard realms of reality and society of which the average person is unaware. Trussoni writes well, which is a delight since the world she creates seems a bit erudite and her description of the rest of us seems a bit conceited. A decent read though, especially if the idea of a thriller set in a convent with angels and demons alike in abundance attracts you. Neither laugh-out-loud nor amazingly tense, this text is the best sort of mediocre.

Golgatha by Rod Belcher (Pre publication)

The Likeness by Tana French

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

I completely ignored this book for years, letting it languish on my shelf, looking at it and wincing, figuring it was one of those books: self-help; self-discovery; travelogue; my-life-is-great-now-yours-can-be-too!; you know, the books that I loathe.

It is, in many ways, all those things, but more incidentally than specifically. Gilbert's voice on this travel is compelling, funny, sincere and most of all real. Honestly, I loved every page of this book.

In the Woods by Tana French

Chasing the Devil's Tail: A Mystery of Storyville, New Orleans by David Fulmer

Artemis Fowl: Atlantic Complex by Eoin Colfer

What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy by Gregory Maguire

The Mammy by Brendan O'Carroll

Only a few chapters in, this had me laughing out loud, delightedly engaged with the characters and looking forward to more reading time ever so soon. The malapropisms are worth the read in their own right.

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

Wonderful, thrilling account of privateering in the New World. I soaked it up. Good as a beach book, an introduction to the mid-seventeenth century Caribbean, and an downright awesome adventure.

Andromeda Strain

Absolutely amazing. It's hard to believe that out of all the Crichton that I've read I somehow managed to miss this, his most famous early work. Published the same year I was born, it holds its own four decades later as a must read science thriller.

Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman

The Lost World by Michael Crichton

Where the Dead Lay by David Levein

Step on a Crack by James Patterson

Code to Zero by Ken Follett

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich

The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson

The final installment in the trilogy, I am even more in love with Lisbeth Salander than ever before. Truly, Larsson is a master.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

This book was so amazing I never wanted it to end. The characters are so real, so true to themselves, that I felt I knew them, could recognize them across a crowded room, could call them up for dinner.