Here's my recent 5-star reviews:

Strangers in Death, JD Robb
In Twilight's Shadow, Patti O'Shea
Cry Wolf, Patricia Briggs
Gale Force, Rachel Caine

In the off-the-beaten-path, I recommend the nonfiction A Piano in the Pyrenees by Tony Hawks (actually, anything by Hawks is fantastic).

I've lost track: what book are you working on now?

You bought a brush on Amazon? That is so wickedly wonderful-slash-pathetic that I am laughing out loud -- well, my colleagues already know I'm crazy. People who've never written just may not understand the demands it makes. You are a very awesome girl, Marjorie. From rats nest hair to delivery from Amazon to save the day. This should be one helluva book.

Dr. Phil

Brush story? Hilarious.

Have you ever read the Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop? They've been released a few different times and there are now a short story collection and a follow up novel to go with them. I recommend buying the omnibus because, trust me, you're going to fall in love with every single thing about them and want to read them all. No need to "try out" the first one. :)

I second the Rachel Caine Weather Warden series (urban fantasy), Anne Bishop Black Jewels (they are very addictive fantasy) and I also would add Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. I fell in love with this series about the Napoleonic Wars...but with Dragons instead of your typical aircrafts from that time period. She does her research well for that period. Alternate earth. I was afraid of a Pern rip-off, but she doesn't go there. Good stuff. For excerpts and more details:

www.temeraire.org
www.annebishop.com
www.rachelcaine.com

Read Grimspace by Ann Aquirre. It's a sci-fi. This first in a series. The second book came out this week.

I do know this really great author that you'll just love. Her name is Marjorie M. Liu and she...oh wait, sorry, I guess I don't have a rec for you. ;)

The Carpet Makers Andreas Eschbach

From Publishers Weekly
Set on a low-tech world where the main industry is the manufacture of carpets of human hair, German SF author Eschbach's first novel forms a grim mosaic of stories of myriad people and cultures trapped in stagnation by one powerful man's petty anger. Intended for the emperor on a distant planet, the carpets are so finely made that each carpet maker can only finish one in his lifetime, working with hairs from the bodies of his wives, who are chosen for the quality and color of their tresses. And so life goes, generation after generation, even after rumors and, finally, ships from the new government arrive with word of the emperor's removal. The new interstellar government learns the emperor secretly maintained thousands of carpet-making planets. Why? Eventually, the reader finds out the answer, though the revelation comes almost as an afterthought. While Eschbach's vignettes do form a fragile whole, the structure lacks urgency or focus. There's bound to be extra publicity because Orson Scott Card, who provides an intro, helped discover the book, but while Card fans will enjoy the large-scale world building and historical detail, they may be disappointed by the lack of real characters or sustained plot.
Me again-----Despite this review it's an easy read
(300 pgs) one of my favorite books

And I got these two in audio book format and plan to listen to them soon-- but they sounded interesting enough to pass on if you wish to explore

REMEMBER ME by Trezza Azzopardi
From AudioFile
Corrie James reads this tale of remembrance and abandonment with an odd mix of cynicism and wonder, an appropriate blend to set the tone as main character Winnie looks back on her difficult life. As homeless Winnie attempts to track down the fate of her few stolen belongings, she recounts how each item came into her possession. James alters her voice subtly, giving the young Winnie an optimistic wistfulness, while making the older Winnie sound as wizened and bitter as she has become. The inflections are so subtle, however, and the flashbacks so frequent, that it's easy confuse timing in the book. The novel itself gets off to a slow start, also matched by James's reading, but as the story line picks up, so does James's performance, making the surprise ending worth waiting for.

CREEPERS by David Morrell
From Publishers Weekly
Morrell takes a creative kind of breaking-and-entering as the premise for his latest thriller (after Nightscape), a gripping story that demands to be read in a single sitting. Disguising himself as a journalist, Frank Balenger, ex-U.S. Army Ranger and Iraqi war veteran, joins a group of "Creepers," also known as infiltrators, urban explorers or city speleologists—men and women who outfit themselves with caving gear to break into and explore buildings that have long been closed up and abandoned. Though what they're doing is technically illegal, participants pride themselves on never stealing or destroying anything they find at these sites. They take only photographs and aim to leave no footprints. Balenger joins a group of four: the leader, Professor Robert Conklin, high school teacher Vincent Vanelli and graduate students Rick and Cora Magill. This gang infiltrates the Paragon Hotel, an abandoned, seven-story, pyramidal Asbury Park, N.J., structure built in 1901 by eccentric, hemophiliac Morgan Carlisle. Balenger and the professor have a special agenda, but the others are there simply for the thrills. Things quickly begin to unravel in life-threatening ways once the intrepid infiltrators penetrate the building—they aren't the only ones creeping around the spooky hotel. Morrell delivers first-rate, suspenseful storytelling once again.

These can all be found on amazon, many times if you get used....the shipping costs more than the book!

Whatever you choose to read- hope your writings go well and you (and all your blog followers) have a good weekend

Have you read the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward? Some are better than others, but even those are easier to lose myself in than most books. They are action packed and hot. Start at the beginning and you won't stop until you read the most current!
Rose

Sadly, I did not accomplish what I had hoped to this summer as far as headway in the TBR pile goes. (partially because I didn't have as much time to read as I had anticipated, and also partially because i keep buying more books!)
Some books I have recently been enjoying include:
The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch, because it expands wonderfully on the lecture (and is good for finding motivational quotes in).
Sharp Teeth - Tony Barlow, an interesting werewolf story written in prose.
The Confessions of Max Tivoli - Andrew Sean Greer, an interesting look at a man who ages backwards - having been born looking seventy, he looks progressively younger, and hence, knows at what age he will die. He also manages to woo the same woman three times because she fails to recognize him as years pass. Interesting view point, and historically accurate to time and place.
I also hear The Underneath - Kathi Applet, which is a children's story, but so is The Rats of Nymh, which continues to be one of my favorite stories ever. It's somewhere in the bottomless abyss that is my TBR.
Also picked up The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007 to pick through when I'm stuck waiting somewhere such as a doctor's office. When You Are Engulfed in Flames is also around here...somewhere...

~ Mitch