A Review Roundup

Every project hits a rough patch at some point, and I've had mine over the past week. Tomorrow is officially get-back-to-work day, when my characters will have to behave or else. Or else...what? Just what do you threaten a refractory fictional character with, anyway? Claiming you'll write them out of the story would be an empty threat, because I know (and I expect they know) that they're all essential to the plot...and shutting up the notebook and not writing about them at all would be more tortuous to the author than the characters. So I guess they'll just have to behave.

In the meantime, I've been reading. That's nothing new, I know. I seem to have a slight problem with ratios in my library activity—I check books out in armfuls and return them by ones and twos. At this rate I don't think there will ever again be a moment when I don't have anything checked out. Though I haven't posted a book review on this blog for a while, I have been reviewing on Goodreads. Here's a roundup of reviews I've written so far this year:

• Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart (my favorite read of the year so far!)
• Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freeman
• The Windy Hill by Cornelia Meigs
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
• Rifles For Watie by Harold Keith

There's lots more on my to-read list that I can't wait to get into. I'm playing along with a reading challenge hosted by fellow author Aubrey Hansen, which adds even more fun to keeping track of what I'm reading. And the separate Goodreads shelf for the challenge, incidentally, is a handy place to see at a glance exactly what I've read so far in 2013.

Anyone else taking part in a reading challenge? What's your favorite book you've read so far this year?