We wrapped up the New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge last week — check out all the great books people read to support their 2014 projects, goals, and resolutions.

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Read

I finished and reviewed what I hope will be the first of many books about England this year: My Love Affair with England by Susan Allen Toth.

I finished The Seventh Sinner by Elizabeth Peters. That was a fun story with a great setting. I’ll get a review of it up this week.

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Reading

My current e-book is the anthology Dates from Hell. Neither of the first two stories really worked for me, so I skimmed them. I finished the third one last night, by Kelley Armstrong, and it was fun. We’ll see if I want to read the rest.

I finally picked up The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron last week and started it. I’ve read it before but I’m working through it now with a group facilitated by Laurel Regan of Alphabet Salad. We’re taking a whole year to do what is normally a 12-week course. It’s not too late to join! Nobody seems to mind that I got such a late start.

Here’s a photo of the fun display window at the new local independent bookstore where I bought The Artist’s Way. I shared this yesterday, but I thought the Monday crowd would enjoy it, too.

I’m reading a book for our Diversity Book Club on Thursday. Most of you won’t have easy access to this since it was published by the Missouri Historical Society and I’m sorry because it’s proving to be an excellent story for Black History Month: Malindy’s Freedom: The Story of a Slave Family by Mildred Johnson and Theresa Delsoin.

I’ve also started two books about England in the 1600s:

• Newton by Peter Ackroyd
• The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World by Edward Dolnick

I started a Pinterest board, one of those new ones with the maps, about the places that Isaac Newton went with quotes from the Ackroyd biography: Follow in the Footsteps of Isaac Newton. I think I’ll start another one for the second book that shows the major locations associated with the Royal Society and its members.

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Will Read

I got far enough into Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson to know that I want to read it, even though it’s massive and the first in a trilogy. It’s hitting on some of the same times and places, and featuring some of the same people, as Newton and The Clockwork Universe.

Quicksilver is on hold for the moment, though, while I read Malindy’s Freedom before our book club meeting.

It’s Monday! What Are Your Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. Be sure to check out her post today to see her selections and the list of links to all the other participating bloggers.