Trampoline

Nothing like the shiny happy face of your neighbor and her friends, cousins, ??? as they pop in and out of view. Or maybe it was the many months without the trampoline due to the tree collapse - I'm sure it was one of them that made me happy.

A clean car

Yes, it is the little things - a shiny, clean (or better than it was, at least) car.

In a Dark House - Deborah Crombie

Set in London, this detective story must be part of a series. Rarely do I pick up a book in the middle of a series, but this time I did without even knowing it. I don't even know how this book ended up on my "To Read" pile - probably the friend I currently work for... I enjoyed the obviously recurring characters along with the mystery itself. While many mystery books rely on coincidences to make things happen, this one turned them around a little bit.

I find myself wanting to read the books that precede this one and the ones that come after; a good sign. I may keep it and re-read it when I get to it's spot on the chronological order of the series. But I'll definitely pass it around to other readers.

7th Heaven - James Patterson

After slogging through the last book, I needed brain candy. Patterson's Women's Murder Club series seemed like a good fit. I read it in a few short hours and generally enjoyed it. However, the last two paragraphs left me with a bad taste in my mouth. As usual there is more than one investigation going and a large part of the book focuses around one investigation. The missing party has a particular image and the end of the book didn't meet with that image. It left me with a feeling that someone would have had some insight to this, the end just didn't seem consistent with the personality of the character.

Fun book, but not one of the best in the series.

The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa

The idea sounded good - an art critic talking about art and making it relevant to every day life. In practice, it was hit or miss. If I had reviewed the book 50 pages or even 111 pages in, I would have said it made great bedtime reading. I could barely focus on the pages and several times I found myself re-reading a section because I had not remembered a thing. At least 3 times I started reading and 2 pages later realized I had read that before. I was then able to skip ahead 10 or 20 pages.

Then somewhere around half way, I found myself actually enjoying the reading. It never made me want to keep reading when I was tired or make me think, I wish I could go start reading it. But I was no longer forcing myself to read it. At this point, it turned almost travelogue or adventure story. I believe the first chapter was about taking pictures in Antarctica on ill-fated journeys and one of the last was about traveling to artists making art in remote places.

While I don't recommend it for everyone, I think it gives insight into an artist's mind - which apparently sometimes bores me to tears.