Going Back for 2nds

I have such a hard time passing up a great new challenge! Joy at Thoughts of Joy is hosting the 2nds Challenge. Running from October 1 - December 31, this challenge requires participants to read three books "by authors that you have only read one other."

Choosing my three books for this challenge was something of a challenge in itself because if I find an author I like, I often am obsessed with reading more of that author's work. And if there's an author that I'm trying to get around to reading, I most likely haven't yet read anything he or she has written. (But there's a different challenge to take care of that problem!).

I did finally come up with three authors that meet the criteria:

• Jennifer Haigh - Baker Towers
  (I read Haigh's first novel, Mrs. Kimble, when it was published in 2003, and liked it a lot. Baker Towers is her second - and latest - novel, published in 2005.)


• Alexander McCall Smith - Tears of the Giraffe
  (This second in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series has been sitting on my bedside table since I read the first book two or so years ago. Because it belongs to my mom, I haven't felt the same urgency to get it read that I have with library books, so still it sits. I found the first book to be delightful, however, so I'd really like to continue with the series - as well as consider some of McCall Smith's other work.)


• Anita Shreve - TBD
  (I read White on Snow with my book club a while back but haven't yet read anything else Shreve has written. Since I'm still trying to decide which title to choose, if you've read one you liked, be sure to let me know!)