I called my friend Vickie at Barron’s with a list of books. I try to buy from my favorite local bookseller, you can imagine the hit most local booksellers have taken as a result of Amazon and others. By asking friends what they’re reading, checking other writer’s blogs and reading the Dallas Morning News book review I usually have a long list when I call Vickie. I brought home a huge stack: The Help, Very Valentine, The Passion of Mary Margaret, and Jane Austen Ruined My Life. The Last Madonnas of Leningrad I did have to order. Because I sometimes juggle a few books at a time, I keep Lisa Samson’s teen series Hollywood Nobody in the car to read while I’m waiting in car pool lines (I bought this for my daughter, but as she’s not yet caught the reading bug and I’m taking these for a spin before they settle in her room) so I’m going to try to comment on these as I finish them and hope I don’t  get the impressions confused. I will say, I opened The Help as soon as I got home from the Barron’s/grocery store run because of the reviews listed on the back cover.  When a publisher puts a debut novelist in hard back, it’s gotta be good (at least in some one’s opinion.) It’s been a while since I read a story written in a vernacular style (think Huckleberry Finn) but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it. If you’ve been reading good books that you’d like to recommend as well, feel free to leave a title in the comment box.