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It doesn't pay to procrastinate! Since my last list...

Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zemser: (young adult) Not really what I expected. A little too quirky for my tastes.

Little Men by Louisa May Alcott: My library was discarding a duplicate copy, and I'd never read it, so I gave it a try, even though I wasn't too keen on Little Women. Turns out, I liked the male version better. Probably because it wasn't as sappy!

Evans to Betsy by Rhys Bowen: Still working on that Evan Evans series! Haven't tired of them yet!

Hard Gold by Avi: A juvenile fiction book about the Colorado gold rush. Kids often come into the library needing a historical fiction book, so I previewed this one. It's a good length for kids, seems to be historically accurate, and has pictures sprinkled throughout, so I think it's a winner!

A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson: It took me a while to warm up to this, but it turned out to be good. Fans of Alexander McCall Smith would probably like it, as it's set in Africa and has a similar tone.

Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepard: I think this was supposed to refutation of Nickel and Dimed, but it didn't work for me. The guy left home with $25 in his pocket to see if he could make it. Okay, he reached his goals, but he was living in a homeless shelter. I have trouble calling that a success.

The Gossip of the Starlings by Nina de Gramont: This is one of those prep school books that's tinged with darkness and danger...sort of like The Secret History. Liked it.

Her Mother's Shadow by Diane Chamberlain: Really really predictable, but not bad. I've enjoyed other Chamberlain books more.

Clubbed to Death by Elaine Viets: Part of the Dead-End Job series of mysteries. They're just fluff mysteries, but I've enjoyed all of the books in the series.

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson: (juvenile fiction) Excellent book about slavery and the American Revolution. I'm not sure how much it would appeal to the ages for which it's intended, but I really enjoyed it.

And some books I bought for ten cents each and took along on vacation. All of them mysteries, none of them outstanding:

Auntie Mayhem by Mary Daheim
Visions of Sugarplums by Janet Evanovich (I don't understand the popularity of Evanovich.)
Under Orders by Dick Francis