I arrived home safely on Saturday, despite the seven hour drive, fighting the steering wheel due to extreme winds. I had a wonderful time with my family, though, and it was hard to go back to work.
And I hadn’t read anything all week, so it was even difficult to get into books again. Claire Keegan’s small novel, Foster, helps. I reviewed her book, Small Things Like These, several months ago, and I can’t wait to share Foster with you on Saturday. I also have a link to a New York Times article about Keegan that I’ll share with the review.
Foster is about an unnamed young girl, sent to live with her mother’s family in Wexford, Ireland, because her mother has too many children on her hands, and a new baby on the way. As I said, I can’t wait to share the book.
What about you? What have you been reading this week? Please share!
Lesa, I’m really looking forward to your review of Foster. My reading this week included one holiday romance, one book set in Ireland and read for my book club, and a book I had been waiting for from the library after reading so many recommendations.
I was in the mood for a Christmas romcom, and HOME SWEET CHRISTMAS, the second in Susan Mallery’s Wishing Tree books, was just what I needed. Camryn and River are two women who have moved (separately) to Wishing Tree, a small Washington town that really knows how to celebrate the Christmas season. Camryn moved from Chicago to take care of her high school-age twin sisters when their mother died and to manage the family store, Wrap Around the Clock. River has her own business doing online research and investigation and is shy socially after missing a lot of school with scoliosis as a child. Of course, during the holiday season, both women meet attractive men who may or may not be right for them. Jake is the scion of a wealthy family that owns a local upscale resort. His intrepid, recently widowed mother is scheming to get him married so she can have some grandchildren, but he doesn’t have the best luck in that area. Jake’s best friend, Dylan, becomes the town’s Snow King to River’s Snow Queen (her new friends’ votes dominate the ballot box), which throws them together as they fulfill their royal responsibilities. It will come as no surprise that all four have secrets they would rather not divulge, and they use them as excuses to mess up their romantic relationships. I especially had little patience with Camryn, who uses her unshakeable goal to return to Chicago in three years after her sisters graduate from high school (we don’t know why, including why she is willing to abandon her sisters) to avoid anything but “friends with benefits” relationships. But those quibbles didn’t ruin the story for me. I loved the quaint town of Wishing Tree and its old-fashioned, charming holiday festivities, and the story was fun and mostly heartfelt.
My book club book was THE EXISTENTIAL WORRIES OF MAGS MUNROE by Jean Grainger. A sergeant in the Garda, the local police in her coastal Irish town, Mags has just been beaten out for a promotion by a jealous, spiteful male colleague. She is also a loving wife and mother to two girls, age 9 and 12, dealing with the daily ups and downs of family life while starting to feel the unpleasant symptoms of menopause. And she is one of the most down-to-earth, endearing characters I have read in a while. I would have been happy to read an entire book about Mags’ daily routine and her perspectives on life–all narrated in the first person by Mags herself–but there is a murder to solve. The victim is a member of the nearby Travellers caravan, where members of this traditionally nomadic group live apart from the “settled” community. Mags has a positive relationship with the elderly family matriarch and a better understanding of Traveller customs and beliefs than the most of the town’s inhabitants, which makes her uniquely qualified to be an unofficial liaison between the two groups. Mags, her husband, daughters, and mother, as well as a young woman attracted by the prospect of joining the Garda against the will of her community, are all appealing characters, and I rooted for them throughout the story. I also enjoyed learning about the Irish Travellers, an indigenous group that I had never before encountered. I was pleasantly surprised to find that (1) the story is much more accessible than the book title indicates, and (2) I wanted to continue reading about Mags and the Travellers in the second in the series, Growing Wild in the Shade.
REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt is a charming, uplifting book that will surely be on my list of favorites for 2022. Seventy-year-old Tova Sullivan works nights cleaning the tanks at the Sowell Bay (WA) Aquarium and has developed a special relationship with Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus. She talks to him as she works and looks the other way when he frequently escapes from his tank to forage food from the other aquarium inhabitants. Marcus himself narrates alternate chapters, expressing both his appreciation for Tova and his conviction that an octopus is far superior to a human. Tova likes to keep busy rather than obsessing about her late husband, who died a few years back, and her only child, Erik, who died mysteriously at age eighteen. But she’s not sure she shouldn’t sell her longtime home and move to an upscale retirement community. After she has a fall that disables her for a few weeks, she meets Cameron, her temporary replacement, when she drops in to check on Marcellus. Thirty-year-old Cameron is bright but can’t seem to keep a job or a relationship and is looking for an opportunity to prove himself. Tova’s and Cameron’s stories eventually merge, leading to unexpected turns of event and surprises for both. A delightful dose of magical realism lifts the book even higher. Marcellus sees things that can help both characters change their lives and looks for ways to send those messages to them. Both the human and octopus characters are treated lovingly and believably by the author, making this a read I won’t soon forget.
You said that magical word, Margie, and it wasn’t Christmas. It was Ireland. Now, I’m going to have to look for THE EXISTENTIAL WORRIES OF MAGS MUNROE. Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed all your books.
And, Foster. I can’t really say I love the story, but I love Claire Keegan’s writing.
Thanks for this! I enjoyed Remarkably Bright Creatures quite a bit and am going to go hunt down the Mags Muroe book also.
I am going to have to seek out THE EXISTENTIAL WORRIES OF MAGS MUNROE by Jean Grainger. Your description sounds like it would be very good. Coming here and finding new books to read (when I already have too many) is dangerous.
Margie, I read Remarkable Bright Creatures this past summer, and I absolutely adored it. It’s on my favorite list of reads for the year, too.
Over the weekend, I was reading THE COUNTERFEIT WIFE by Mally Becker. It’s the second in her Revolutionary War Mysteries. I loved the first, and this one was just as good. The book finds the main characters pretending to be husband and wife as they working to find a counterfeiter in 1780 Philadelphia.
Now, I’m working on BLIND SIDE, the fifth Connor Westphal Mystery from Penny Warner. I’m about a third of the way into it, and I’m really enjoying it. This one finds deaf newspaper owner Connor involved in a mystery involving the annual frog jumping contest made famous by Mark Twain since the books are set in that part of California’s gold country. It’s an older book I am finally dusting off and enjoying.
I’m familiar with Penny Warner’s series, Mark, but I never heard of Mally Becker or the series. I’m going to have to check it out. Thank you!
Penny Warner should be much better known. Her Conor Westphal and her Food Festival series she wrote under the name Penny Pike are both excellent. Even her kids’ series, The Code Buster’s Club is well worth reading.
I only finished one book this week, SANTA’S LITTLE YELPERS by David Rosenfelt. It’s his annual Christmas story featuring attorney Andy Carpenter and , even though they pretty much follow set formula I enjoy reading them.
Well, of course, Sandy. Best book covers out there! If people didn’t enjoy reading them, Rosenfelt’s publisher wouldn’t be publishing them. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Somebody gave me a number of these books (probably around 20) and I’ve been working my way through them. Sometimes Andy reminds me of Golda Meier who said “Don’t be so humble, you’re not that great.”
I abandoned one that started out good and successfully found another that I loved – Take Your Breath Away by Barclay Linwood. The mystery actually takes place in the town that I live in! How weird is that! I had no idea when I picked it at the Library so you can imagine my shock when I discovered its location. The author was originally from CT and now lives in Canada. We’ll be getting rain Friday/Saturday from hurricane so am prepared to read and relax. Have a great weekend.
Stay dry and safe, Donna! That would be a shock to pick up a book and find it’s set where you live! Best of all is that you loved it.
That reminds me of the time we went on a canal boat holiday. I picked up a Joanna Trollope novel that had been sitting on my shelves to take with me. When I started it I found it was set in the Potteries (Stoke-on-Trent area) which was exactly where we were based. (Unfortunately this coincidence didn’t make up for the fact that it was, to me, one of the weakest of her novels that I have so far read.)
I finished reading a procedural by a New Zealand author last night that I really liked. Not sure if it will become a series, although the ending was open enough that it could. The Water’s Dead by Catherine Lea, published in NZ originally and released in the US earlier this year on an independent publishing platform. More involved than a standard procedural, the book pulls in a good deal of information about the Maori, their customs and their struggles to maintain independence.
I love the variety of books you read, Aubrey. Sounds interesting! Thank you.
Aubrey, I’m so glad you liked Catherine Lea’s The Water’s Dead. Didn’t I recommend that to you? I’m wondering because I think I remember talking to you about the Maori and the pronunciation of it. I hope Catherine comes to Bouchercon next year (I think she is) so I can introduce you to her. And, Lesa, if you haven’t met Catherine, I’d love for you two to meet, too.
Three fluffy books this week to drown out the all the election drama.
All Because of Elowin by Stefanie Steck from Kindle Unlimited. A small-town romance that takes place in Ohio. It was predictable and a little to Hallmark-like with the ending for my taste, but I enjoyed this sweet story about Elowin and Simon.
A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams. Sandie provided a wonderful review yesterday. While Colton isn’t my favorite of the bromance book club members this was great fun.
Lastly, In the Middle of Hickory Lane by Heather Webber. Reminiscent of Sarah Addison Allen, another feel good story about Emme looking for a family that she finds in Sweet Grass Alabama.
A good reading week capped by a visit to the Cincinnati Zoo to see Fiona and her baby brother, Fritz.
Happy Reading!
I’m going to admit, Sharon, that I was most excited by your comment that you went to the Cincinnati Zoo to see Fiona and Fritz. We’re already planning a short trip for next spring. Fritz will be so big by then. I hope you had a great visit. I’m jealous.
Thank you for your comment about Sandie’s review!
Thanks for your comment. I love this series.
Sharon, I want to go see Fiona and Fritz so bad. I should have gone to see them this fall.
Yes. He is already 310 pounds. I could have stayed at Hippo Cove my whole visit. I chatted with a woman who came from NJ to see him.
Good morning. Some interesting books read it sounds like.
I’m in my usual mode – plenty of short stories, some non fiction, and a mystery.
Re last week’s comments, I think you will like DIRT CREEK by Hayley Scrivenor, Lesa. The one thing I didn’t care for, as so many other reviewers have noted, was teh Greek chorus “WE” chapters interspersed every once in a while, but they are short and I skimmed most of them. Nice job depicting the rural Aussie outback of New South Wales.
I really enjoyed Chris Offutt’s memoir (the second of his three, but the last I’ve read), NO HEROES: A MEMOIR OF COMING HOME. He returned to Kentucky at 40 with his wife and kids to teach English at his alma mater, Morehead State, and hopefully inspire some kids to go see the world and expand their horizons. I love that he gives books of short stories to his most eager students, and thanks to his recommendation to them I got a book from the library by an author I’d never heard of, the stories of late Breece D’J Pancake. Just read one story so far.
Next I finished the previously mentioned QUEENS NOIR, a good entry in the Akashic series. There is good use of the many different sections of New York’s largest borough (though Brooklyn has more people), by Megan Abbott, Denis Hamill, Stephen Solomita, Jill Eisenstadt and others.
I will finish Chris Offutt’s interesting short novel COUNTRY DARK today. The first section grabbed me immediately, and I found it the most interesting part of the book. Tucker returns from the Korean War in 1954, not yete 18, to his home in rural Kentucky. It jumps ahead 10 years, as his supports his wife and young children by running moonshine to Ohio. He is such a good writer.
Other short story collections I am reading are CRIME HITS HOME, an MWA collection edited by S. J. Rozan, and JEWISH NOIR !!, edited by Kenneth Wishnia and Chantelle Aimee Osman.
We watched the fascinating documentary THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS this week. (This used to be on Netflix, but I got a copy of the DVD from the library.) In 1980, at age 19, Robert, Eddie and David discovered that they were identical triplets, deliberately separated and adopted by three families who never never the other brothers exited, in what to be was an unconscionable decision by a well respected adoption agency as a sort of experiment in nature vs. nurture. I highly recommend the movie. In the movie, besides the boys, they found another set of twins who were part of the “experiment” and who didnt find each other until they were 35, Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein. They wrote a book together, IDENTICAL STRANGERS: A MEMOIR OF TWINS SEPARATED AND REUNITED, and I am finding it fascinating reading.
Jackie is reading what is purportedly the last Peter Decker book by Faye Kellerman but she is disappointed so far, as the Deckers are hardly the main characters in it.
Jeff, I know where Jackie is coming from. I gave up on the book, and a friend told me he quit Faye Kellerman a long time ago.
I have to admit I read your paragraph wrong about Country Dark. I thought is said Chris Offutt was running moonshine. Ha! Well, maybe so, but I just read it wrong.
I’m glad to be able to join the conversation today! Last week I read some of Anne Perry’s Elena Standish novels. I found the first one really gripping but that may be my fondness for a good coming-of-age story. In that vein (coming of age) I enjoyed The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison a few weeks ago but was hesitant to pick up the next book set in that universe. Then I realized The Witness for the Dead is perfect for me–same fantasy universe but with murder mysteries and thoughts about how to follow one’s calling.
Happy Thursday at Lesa’s everyone.
I miss sagas.
I love to snuggle in with a big ol’ book that chronicles a family through generations. Publishers say these books won’t sell to which I say, bunk.
Crystal Smith Paul’s Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? is “A multigenerational saga that traverses the Jim Crow South, the glamour of old Hollywood, and the seductive draw of present-day showbiz as secrets split a family tree into Black, white, and something in between
When white silver screen icon Kitty Karr Tate dies and bequeaths her multimillion-dollar estate to the three Black St. John sisters, it prompts questions.
A celebrity in her own right, Elise St. John would rather focus on sorting out Kitty’s affairs than deal with the press. But what she discovers in one of Kitty’s journals rocks her world harder than any other brewing scandal could—and between a cheating fiancé and fallout from a controversial social media post, there are plenty. And if this isn’t enough, her Vogue shoot has been complicated by the arrival of Jasper, a handsome and knowing photographer who may offer the Elise a chance at her most authentic pose yet—if she can defy her publicist, plan Kitty’s memorial, and figure out how she really feels under the harsh gaze of the paparazzi, the public—and her mother. The discovery that her longtime neighbor and mentor was her grandmother, a Black woman who had been passing for white for over sixty years, threatens to expose a web of unexpected family ties, debts owed, and debatable crimes that could, with one pull, unravel the all-American fabric of her sisters and those closest to them.
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? is a sprawling tale that explores the celebrity machine, the burdens of being Black, the privileges gained by fading to white, and the power that family secrets have to erode and complicate the lives of future generations.”
I don’t know that I have time to read Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?, Kaye, but I remember some of those sagas with fondness. R.F. Delderfield. Oh, I loved his God is an Englishman sagas. And, there was another series I loved. Darn. Read them in high school, and they covered early American history. Not John Jakes. Written by a woman, and I can’t remember the author. There were some terrific sagas. And, I agree with you. When Leila Meacham’s Roses first came out, I read it, and ended up buying extra copies because my Mom was passing it around her card club. That family saga sold.
Lesa – in her interview on the Backlisted podcast, Jenny Colgan said her top favourite book is Delderfield’s To Serve The All My Days. I remember watching the adaptation on television many years ago too.
Family sagas are so good. I love Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Cazalet books, which follow an upper middle class English family from the 1930s onwards. Every character is well drawn and interesting, and Howard took most of the social details and events from her own (quite posh) upbringing.
My mother and I read so many family sagas, Rosemary. I’ve seen, but never read, the Cazalet books. Many of those sagas did do an excellent job with character development so that a reader wanted to continue to follow the series.
I like a good coming-of-age story, too, Trisha. I really need to check on the synopsis of the first Elena Standish novel.
Good afternoon Lesa and everyone,
Lesa, I loved Keegan’s Small Things Like These, so I am looking forward to reading this new book. I think it was quite usual for children to be farmed out in the past. From what I can gather, my grandmothers’ generation passed children around all the time. I think especially when a child was born to unmarried parents, he or she was often brought up by the grandma or older sister, and just thought that they were that woman’s child. People had huge families in those days, and sometimes another mouth to feed was simply too much. Although my own mother remained with her family, as the fifth child of impoverished parents she as made very aware that she was a burden, something that I think has coloured her entire life.
Here in rural Aberdeenshire it is terribly windy today, and it is dark by 4.30pm now. A good time of year to be indoors reading or writing, though today I’ve been at Crathes Castle for a walk with Nancy. The trees were thrashing about – it was really a bit scary. This was my first solo outing in my new car (thank you for the endorsement last week, Jeff!) and I made it there and back somehow…
On Tuesday I had a different walk with my friend Karen, along the river to the Milton of Crathes. When we got there we had a coffee – then got told off by the lady on the till for paying with a card. She said did we not realise how much it costs places when people use cards for small amounts? We were a bit put out to be honest, as we do know about credit card charges, but all of these places have been telling us NOT to give them cash for the past 2+ years….Plus, the prices in this particular establishment are far from low to start with. Oh well!
In books I am still reading Rebecca Humphries’ WHY DID YOU STAY? It’s very good, and dissects the many reasons why women so often persuade themselves to overlook all the signs of a toxic relationship. I have avoided the library this week as I really must not borrow any more books until I’ve read the ones I’ve got. I think my next read will be Jarvis Cocker’s GOOD POP, BAD POP. He describes it as ‘an inventory’, and writes about his life with reference to a whole jumble of items he found in his loft. I like Cocker, I’ve heard a few radio interviews with him recently and he comes across as very intelligent and well informed. This book is, however, a weighty hardback, and I also need a paperback to take with me on the bus to Edinburgh tomorrow. I’ll have to root around tonight.
I’m also listening to two books on BBC Sounds; CAST, IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE– another Charles Paris mystery by Simon Brett, and DEAD MAN’S RANSOM (one of the Cadfael mysteries) by Ellis Peters. I am so used to Bill Nighy as Charles Paris that I find it slightly odd to hear Francis Matthews in the role, but I’m still enjoying it.
This week we have the long awaited return of THE CROWN on Netflix. We’re now up to Series 5, which opens with Charles and Diana being sent on a luxurious yacht holiday in Italy to improve the public image of their now failing marriage. With them are their young sons, their staff – and the Knatchbull family, close friends of Charles. Diana questions why Charles has thought fit to invite them – he obviously can’t cope with being alone with his own wife. Elizabeth Debicki is just perfect as Diana – she has her every gesture and look down to a T. I’m not yet sure, however, about Dominic West as Charles – he is just too intelligent and suave. Imelda Staunton has taken over as HRH; I’m not yet convinced she will be as good as Olivia Coleman, but Staunton is also a great actress so I’m going to wait and see.
MOTHERLAND is also back for a third series; I’m not sure if the humour is uniquely British, but I love it; the scenes at the school gates remind me so much of what that was like; all the one-upmanship between the more aspirational mothers, all the juggling of childcare, the exhausting arranging of birthday parties, the agony when no-one plays with your child. Motherland makes this all very funny – it’s easier to see it that way now it’s in the past!
Last weekend we met up with our son and daughter-in-law at Hopeman, a village on the north coast. It was a fine afternoon, and we went for a walk at a nature reserve called Roseilse – woodlands that open out onto a fabulous, almost deserted, beach. It was so nice to have time with them. They have decided to spend Christmas with us; it will be the first time that all of us have been together for ages, though I am going to have to revisit our usual menus to accommodate our son’s IBD problems.
On Saturday Anna and I are going to see a new opera, AINADAMAR, at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh. It’s about the life and death of the Spanish poet Lorca. I haven’t been to many operas in the past, but this one is new and only 90 minutes long, so I’m looking forward to it.
I have to say we in the UK find the US elections baffling. And I thought our system was confusing enough!
I hope everyone has a good week.
Rosemary
Rosemary, I was booktalking Foster this morning with my best friend, and Donna reminded me that it wasn’t unusual here for farm families in particular to farm out one of the children. Because I knew the true story of an Irishman who received a more privileged upbringing that changed his entire life by being sent to an aunt and uncle, I was thinking of it as more Irish with the big families. But, she’s right. It happened here as well.
Oh, I agree with you. Even donut shops and the turnpikes here were asking for credit, which I hated to do for just couple dollar items, so I understand how you became used to paying for everything with credit rather than cash.
I’m sorry you can’t go to the library right now. (smile)
At certain points curing the pandemic there was talk about shortages of certain kinds of cash, mostly change, but also ones and fives. Stores would ask for exact change. Kind of weird how quickly some things change.
Rosemary, your story about that store reminded me of an incident pre-covid, where we went to Chinatown for Chinese New Year. Some guy pretending to be a Chinese expert wanted to collect money from the party and pay via credit card, only to find this was an old school place, and did not except anything except cash (and possibly gold) It took him a while to live that down.
I am listening to The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar about three women from different caste who break the rules and form deep friendships. I love all of it. Many truths about life, poverty, women and secrets. My favorite book this year.
Also reading a book won from Goodreads, I’m Not Broken by Jessie Leon. Difficult to read, Mexican American whose family was very poor. His childhood and teen years were a nightmare. He accidently met a pedofile who told him not to tell, in a gift shop. Years of being used by the pedofile, he was intelligent, and sent to a magnet school where he had not friends and constantly bullied. Later, a drug attack,
selling himself, for drugs, alcohol but still loving his mother, Convinced her to divorce his father after he kept beating her up. Finally, after getting half way through the book. he is taken under the wing of wonderful man who introduces him to college and back to his love of books that he had when he was a child. Relieved. the book is finally turning positive. But I am grateful for all the teachers and others at school who helped turn around the lives of students.
I have one Italian ancestor who was a poetess and yet I cannot find any of her poetry so far but this week I stumbled on some You-tube videos of Italian Grandma and want to try out some of her recipes. I looking for vegetarian and simple ones and found this one. Gina sings while cooking to! Now I have an older Italian “sister” to teach some Italian recipes, I want to share one with all of you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNorwSkhUKw
A difficult subject in that novel, Carolee.
I can see why you enjoyed the Italian Grandma, since you were looking for family connections.
Good morning, Lesa! This week I’m reading Chloe Cates is Missing by Mandy McHugh. Good suspense so far. One of the main characters is a mom from hell (at least in the eyes of her 13 year old daughter and her son), but the cop in the story is a more sympathetic character from a reader’s POV. I’m enjoying it so far.
Hi Patricia! I’m glad you’re enjoying this week’s book. I don’t know that I’d want to read about “a mom from hell”.
I have the new Longmire via library eBook and not sure what I think of it. Not that far in. Weird as heck.
I checked it out, Kevin, and didn’t even open it, but took it back to the library. I just didn’t think that one was for me.
Not sure it is for me either. Did not get back to it today.
I have finished it moment ago. Very deep in the land of woo-woo. I think skipping it was probably a very good idea.
This week I listened to An Irish Doctor (the first in the series) by Patrick Taylor. Many reviewers compared it to All Creatures Great and Small. Although I have not read the book, I do see the similarities. (I am looking forward to the next season of the PBS version of All Creatures Great and Small that is due out in January.) Anyway, I loved An Irish Doctor. Listening to the audio version, with the Irish brogues, just added to my enjoyment. Lesa, if you have not yet read this series, I think you would thoroughly enjoy it.
I read Blood Alone by James R. Benn. I enjoy this series. I learn something different about WWII with each book.
Keeping with the WWII theme, I am listening to Mother Daughter Traitor Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal. I don’t know what it is about WWII, it fascinates me.
Wishing a wonderful afternoon to all.
Kathleen, My sister, Linda, has read at least seven books in Patrick Taylor’s series. It’s her escape the world series because she finds the books comforting. I’m sure you’re both right that I’d enjoy them. Time! I need time!
Late again, as usual. My husband has gone off to get a crown fixed; it had fallen off. We had to wait nearly a week to get it done, I hope today takes care of it. But he had no pain and was able to eat so a small problem in the scheme of things.
We had real rain in Santa Barbara earlier this week, and that made me very happy. Monday’s rain was sort of light but Tuesday’s rain was suitably heavy most of the day, and now my lemon tree is watered well and my purple glory tree (more of a shrub really) too.
Your trip back home sounds horrendous, with the extreme winds. I am glad you got home safely and had a great week with family.
I am interested in reading FOSTER. I had heard about it through a group reading Novellas in November, but your description pushes it up on my list.
I have read nothing new since last week. Not really true, I have not finished a book but I am reading several.
Top of the list is THE BULLET THAT MISSED by Osman. I am at page 200 of 350ish and am loving it, but reading at a slow pace. This is truly a series that I read more for the people than the plot or mystery, and I really never understood that before.
I read about two-thirds of one of Alice Munro’s short story books, DEAR LIFE. I read eight stories. It took me a while to get used to them, but once I got accustomed to her writing, I liked most of them. I got this book and two more of her short story books (plus her one novel) at the Planned Parenthood book sale this year.
So that is the week in reading for me.
I’m glad you had suitable rain, Tracy! And, it’s never too late. Last week wasn’t a good one for me for catching up with the comments, but I’m happy to do that today.
Foster is listed as 129 pages, but it’s really only 92. The rest is an excerpt from her previous book. It was just what I needed this week.
I can understand why you’re savoring The Bullet That Missed, especially because you’re reading it for the people. Enjoy!
Nicole is over us, as we speak, and it’s gloomy and rainy but the winds have died down. Looks like it should snow, but it’s much too warm.
I’ve finished two books since last week. That’s a first for me! The latest Cleo Coyle haunted bookshop mystery THE GHOST AND THE STOLEN YEARS was more about a necklace than a person although that includes the people who stole the necklace, too. And Lois Winston is publishing her Anastasia Pollack crafting mystery series on audiobook, and I won the first book in the series – ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN. It was fun, sarcastic, and spot-on New Jersey middle aged woman. Great books.
Now I finally have time to finish the White House Chef series with #9 FOREIGN ECLAIRS.
And, Sandie? Did you read Sharon’s comment earlier today saying your review of A Very Merry Bromance was wonderful?
You take care. I hope you and Bill and all the cats did okay during Nicole.
Thanks for pointing that out! We’re fine with most of Nicole north of us now.
I’ve been keeping up with the weekly Thursdays, but unable to post. But let me share a few reads today while at the library. And Lesa, if you missed it, CBS Sunday Morning had a sneak preview of the Museum of Broadway. (I don’t have TV, but saw it on the internet) Snow here this week in the rain shadow of the Sierra. Low of 18 this morning, but lots of sunshine today.
Just finished Mark Pryor’s historical fiction DIE AROUND SUNSET (reviewed here in August). Interesting, but I thought too busy. In his acknowledgement he credits his agent for having him completely rewrite & restructure the story. But still going off in so many directions.
I am a fan of his Hugo Marston series set in modern day Paris.
THE FOUNDLING by Ann Leary (cohost of an NPR weekly radio show) Historical fiction set in 1927 at a remote institution for mentally disabled women called the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of Childbearing Age. Very interesting. Inspired by research the author conducted into her grandmother’s life.
SHUTTER by Ramona Emerson mentioned here from the August new releases. Features a Navajo photographer that is visited by ghosts and works as a forensic photographer for the Albuquerque police department. Fascinating debut, beautiful writing, great characters.
Thank you for reading & commenting from the library, Maureen!
I’ll have to look up CBS Sunday Morning to see the sneak preview of the Museum of Broadway. Thank you!
I still need to get to Shutter. I’m on deadline again, so I have 4 books to read by the end of next week.
I’m fashionably late!
My computer was down last week. This week it rained. On Tuesday, I was an election official. It’s the one place where you can’t hear anything about politics!
Some of the books I read. (The ones worth noting)
Silent Bite by David Rosenfelt; Right after getting off a cruise ship, Andy Carpenter is given a case he doesn’t want. Merry Christmas!
Death by Chocolate by Sally Berneathy; The owner of a chocolate themed bakery starts to investigate, when her paranoid employee actually has weird things happen to her. Also the sleuth’s cheating almost ex-husband shows up complicating her life even more. Is Kansas City really this weird?
Fields of Fire by Ryan Steck; Written by the owner of The Real Book Spy blog. He copies his heroes, but struggle to find his own voice in this middle of the road Men’s Adventure that can’t quite decide which sub-sub-genre it wants to be.
The Residence by Andrew Pyper; A horror story set in the White House of President Franklin Pierce, and completely misunderstands the politics of the time. The White House has been haunted since before the British burned it in the War of 1812. Maybe that’s why Presidents spend so much time on vacation.
Hunter’s Point by Peter Kageyama; a Japanese WWII hero turned PI is hired to find out why mobsters are interested in indutrial property. Of course, there’s a conspiracy. Not bad, although the PI rides a motorcycle and we never find out whether is’ a Harley or an Indian.
My mother loves to work the polls, Glen. It’s a small community & she gets to catch up with people she seldom sees.
Well, Kageyama should have specified the motorcycle. Even I know that for post-WWII.
Oh, I’m sorry to hear that about Fields of Fire.
Lesa, I am really late today. I have good excuses though. I had a doctor appointment about something that was worrying me that is now no longer worrying me. I went out to eat with a friend and then we went to see Anastasia, part of the Broadway series at our RiverPark Center here in Owensboro. I hadn’t seen live theatre for almost three years, and it felt great to be back to it. It was a fantastic performance.
Reading. I finished Louise Penny’s A WORLD OF CURIOSITIES and think it is one of her best. I’m still working on a review for it. I read the third Thursday Murder Club book, THE BULLET THAT MISSED by Richard Osman. It was such a delight, as the first two have been. I rather needed a lighter read after the nail-biting Penny one. I’m now reading STILL WATERS by Sara Driscoll. It’s the seventh book in the F.B.I. K-9 series that I love. The characters, including the dogs are great.
Kathy, I saw Anastasia twice on Broadway (well, of course I did. Ramin Karimloo was in it). I loved the opening scene at the ball in Russia. I thought it was so well done, and the way they ended it!
I’m glad you aren’t worrying any more about the medical issue. The worry itself causes more stress sometimes than the issue itself.
Sending hugs!