Reading list update

I have been missing my blogging since we lost so much staff at the library.  I used to blog on my lunch hour, but lately I have been working through lunch just to try to stay caught up with all the work.  Will try to do better.

Today I am catching up on my reading.  Here is what I have been reading since my last "Literary Monday" post:

Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin - this is the book that the HBO series is based on, and they are following the books pretty faithfully.  Lots of characters and a setting that is sort of like Middle Earth meets the Middle Ages.  I already bought the second book, Clash of Kings, for the Kindle.

Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - the 2nd and 3rd books in the Hunger Games trilogy.  I was satisfied with the conclusion but not everyone was (it's a very adult conclusion to the book, not "and they lived happily ever after").  The characters are extremely damaged by what they have gone through, and it's not realistic to think they are all going to skip off into the sunset holding hands.

Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan - the story of a relationship told through dictionary entries.  Different.

Troubled Bones by Jeri Westerson - the fourth title in the Crispin Guest medieval noir series.  I liked this one very much since Westerson introduced Geoffrey Chaucer as a character - Chaucer is also scheduled to appear in the next title in the series.

Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton - A man who is unable to speak following a childhood trauma becomes a safecracker to help his girlfriend's family.  Good psychological thriller.

Civilized World by Susi Wyss - A novel told in segments that focus on various characters and set in various African countries.  Reminded me of Olive Kitteridge.

Ten thousand saints by Eleanor Hamilton - a coming-of-age story about three teens whose lives are affected by the loss of a brother, a friend, and a lover.

Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak - an orphaned ward of Empress Elizabeth of Russia spies on members of the court and attaches herself to the court of the future Catherine the Great.  Loved it.  It's the first book in a planned trilogy about Catherine.

Kiss me Judas by Will Christopher Baer - ever hear that urban myth about a guy who picks up a girl in a bar and takes her back to his hotel room, only to wake up the next morning in a bathtub full of ice with one of his kidneys gone?  That is the premise for Baer's quirky, sometimes surreal noir novel.  It's hard to tell who are the good guys.

Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell - Two parallel stories that focus on two couples (one in the 1950's, the other in the 21st century) gradually come together to reveal the connection between them.