The weather has been nice this week, but I was a little disappointed yesterday. Over five years ago (before COVID closed the world down), I saw Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary. They performed in Denver when I was there for a conference. Wonderful concert, and I bought tickets to see them here in Columbus in a couple weeks. But, I had a notice today that the program was cancelled due to illness. Darn. I was hoping to see them one last time. They’re both 86, so I don’t know how much longer they’ll be touring.
Last week, when I mentioned my schedule, I thought I’d be telling you about Amanda Jones, author of That Librarian. I was off by a week. She’s at the library next Monday. September has a messy schedule for me.
Remember when I mentioned the book about cemeteries in Ohio? That led to my current book, Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology. Many of us read it years ago. I read it in high school, and I even saw a play put on in one of the local churches. Now, I picked it up to reread. If you don’t remember it, it’s a book of dramatic monologues written in free verse about a fictional town called Spoon River. It’s based on the Midwestern towns where Masters grew up. The stories of scandals and secret tragedies are recognizable as events from all towns. Masters “raises the dead sleeping on the hill in their village cemetery to tell the truth about their lives”.
So, there’s my week. What about you? How’s your week? And, what have you been reading this week?
Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg.
Oh, another good one by Goldberg.
Very good, so far. Bit more than halfway and Eve Ronin and Duncan have prominent roles this time. That is very cool.
Yes, it is. I like Eve and Duncan.
In 2011 David and I spent two wonderful weeks exploring Vermont and saw Peter and Paul in concert at the Chandler Music Hall in Randolph, Vermont. I remember the concert and the music hall vividly – both were wonderful. But I don’t remember why Mary wasn’t there.
This has been a quiet week other than cataract surgery on my other eye just yesterday. I had them put in a lens that means I can read without glasses but will still need them to see anything further than two feet away. I survived and can’t wait till the required four weeks is past, so I can get new prescription glasses and be able to see clearly all the wonders out there. I currently have temporary lenses in my glasses that will allow me distance vision, but only at 80%. But my goodness, this 80% is letting me see things in a way I have never ever been able to see. Who knew there was so much detail?! I can see individual leaves on trees as I drive by. And I can read street signs from a distance now, instead of not until I’m directly beneath them. It’s all so exciting so far!
This week I read:
THE FIANCE DILEMMA by Elena Armas
Josie was raised by her mother since her father decided to abandon them the moment he found out her mother was pregnant with her. Josie is an adult now, loves her small town, owns a coffee shop in it, and is its mayor. Her mother has died and Josie still has issues about her father having left the two of them. She’s afraid to make a lifetime commitment to any man because she doesn’t trust that they won’t eventually walk out of her life too. Nevertheless, she’s almost said ‘I do” four times.
Enter her business mogul father back into her life, saying he wants to repair his wrongs of the past but it turns out to be all about him, not her. Yet somehow she agrees to him paying for a big wedding for her. Although she has no plans to actually go through with it, she panics and convinces her sister’s best friend Matthew to be ‘fake engaged’ for the sake of the family image.
I thought this would be a funny, sweet rom-com but I just found most of it to be irritating. Josie was repetitively angsty, Matthew was too unbelievably perfect, the ‘romance’ was unnecessarily graphic, none of the secondary characters added any real interest to the story, and it all grated on me a bit. I didn’t care if Josie and Matthew got together in the end. Maybe I’m in the minority for not liking this book though, because reviews have generally been quite good.
THE GHOST CAT by Alex Howard
Grimalkin the cat lives in Edinburgh during the Victorian era. Although elderly, he nevertheless dies before his time, meaning the natural ‘nine lives’ won’t happen. The great Cat God gives Grimalkin a choice – either permanent death right now, or be allowed eight more lives except that he must live them as a ghost cat; he will only be able to observe; not live as a real cat. Grimalkin chooses the eight lives.
The story is told from his point of view, and each of the lives begins in the same house he lived in before. This allows a nice story arc as he can observe what happens to his favourite human, Eilidh – who had rescued him when she was just a young girl and he was a newly born kitten. I liked how she remained an anchoring part throughout the book, and provided an emotional aspect.
Grimalkin observes, comments on, and thinks about the changes in the house and its various occupants, Edinburgh, and the world in general over the course of 120 years. It’s written like a series of short vignettes rather than a beginning/middle/end sort of book. He gets to be present at major historical events (as do we) and there are several short interesting historical footnotes to be enjoyed along the way. I quite enjoyed this little book and it gave me a chance to observe the passing of the years along with Grimalkin, giving me lots to ponder about life and the passing of time.
Lindy, Mary Travers died in 2009.
Lesa, we’ve noticed our favorite singers getting older too. Several have retired as they’ve gotten to their 70s and 80s, though some go on. People like Willie Nelson (who has had to cancel shows this year due to illness), Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana, Bob Dylan always seem to be touring. In fact, one of Raitt’s songs is “The Road’s My Middle Name.” When we saw her in June of 2022, she was so thrilled to be back touring after two years of forced inactivity that she could barely contain herself. This year we’ve seen Raitt (74), Santana (77), Steve Winwood (76), The Doobie Brothers (72 to 76), and we have tickets for Graham Nash (82) and Judy Collins (85), as well as Jeff Lynne (76) with ELO. We’re all aging, some more gracefully than others.
But I digress, as usual. Nice weather this week, low to mid-70s, lower humidity, a cool breeze, beautiful. My sister in Arizona just passed her record 100th straight day of 100+ degrees. Pretty unbearable.
Books, then. Jackie read the last but one Kate Burkholder book by Linda Castillo, AN EVIL HEART (I think), the one where people are killed with a crossbow. Nasty. But it does, finally, have Kate & Tomasetti’s wedding at the end. She is now reading the latest (#12; the last, apparently) Lizzie Grace fantasy romance, with a vampire war going on. The title is SHADOW’S END.
I finished the fourth Philip K. Dick collection of short stories, this one mostly from the 1960s, The End of the Sibyl. Not bad, but the earlier stories are better. Currently reading (still) the W> Somerset Maugham collection, Collected Short Stories Volume 2 in the Penguin selection. A lot of these are set in various South Sea islands between the World Wars, an area Maugham visited several times. Also reading Curtis Sittenfeld’s collection of stories, You Think It, I’ll Say It. I like her writing (she does an occasional column in the NY Times) and might read one of her novels one of these days.
Positive reviews led me to Jordan Harper’s Everybody Knows, a fast but rather dark and cynical book about the underbelly of Los Angeles & Hollywood in particular. Mae & Chris are both working for “The Beast” one way or another. She works for a powerful PR firm whose job is mostly NOT getting publicity for their clients but the opposite, keeping a lid on scandals. Chris is a huge former cop, not a kind of brutal enforcer. The two had a past love affair and clearly still care a lot about each other. When Mae’s boss is gunned down in his car, just before he is about to tell her about leaving the firm and striking out on their own, she is sure it is not just a random carjacking gone wrong, and she determines that she will investigate despite the wishes of the firm. Dark but very well written.
Also currently reading another highly praised work, this one British, Jo Callaghan’s In the Blink of An Eye. Chief Superintendent Kat Frank is returning to work six months after her husband’s death, and she gets saddled with a pilot project, working with Lock, an AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity), who appears as a hologram and gives “his” analysis in a very tactless way. They are tasked with cold cases to see how it works. There is a sequel coming out in January, I believe. This is a fast moving procedural, Kat is a good character, exasperated at dealing with her “partner” but trying to solve real disappearances. Good book so far (nearly halfway), and I would definitely recommend it.
Of course, I have more library books waiting – the next Adam Fawley book by Cara Hunter is next – as well as a couple in transit. I wore my Thomas Jefferson T-shirt yesterday, the one that says “I Cannot Live Without Books.”
Jeff, My friend, David, did see Judy Collins last year in concert, and said her voice is as beautiful as ever. So, they’re aging, but so are we. We can still appreciate them.
When I read these posts on Thursday morning, I do it with my card open at the Columbus Metropolitan Library so I can place holds. I’ve already placed holds on The Ghost Cat, recommended by Lindy, and your suggestion, In the Blink of an Eye. Of course, everything comes in at once, and I’m still reviewing for LJ.
It has been nice weather, hasn’t it?
Thanks Jeff. Now that you say it I think I did know that Mary Travers had died. I feel terrible for not having remembered.
Lindy, My sister had that same type of cataract surgery because she said she always wants to be able to read. She’s really happy with it.
The Ghost Cat. I put it on hold at the library. It sounds wonderful. Thank you!
I’m sure others from CA will be chiming in to talk about how hot it is here. I’m savoring it because it’s the beginning of September, which means we will be getting cooler weather soon. I love my hot weather. I’m not ready to fall to be here. And I have two and a half weeks of summer left, so I am going to enjoy.
And how am I enjoying? By reading the latest Year-Round Christmas Mystery from Vicki Delany, of course. A SLAY RIDE TOGETHER WITH YOU is the seventh in the series. This particular one is actually set around Easter, which is fun for a change of pace. Despite the series name, most have been set in December. It had a slow start where it was hard to even figure out for sure where the story was going. But once the murder happened, I’ve been fully on board.
Up next? MRS. CLAUS AND THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE NEW YEAR’S by Liz Ireland. I’m reading two Christmas themed books in our mid-100’s temps. Yes, I’m laughing at the irony.
But, that’s the only kind of cold weather that you and I appreciate, Mark. I’m with you on wanting to hang on to summer.
You went to Bouchercon, didn’t you? Who did you see that was on your “Must see” list?
No, I didn’t make it to Bouchercon. We have a slightly off fiscal year at work, so this is a quarter end month, aka extra busy. There was no way I could sneak away and go. I went for one day last year because it was in San Diego.
Wish I could have gone, but they keep scheduling these conventions for times that don’t work. Should be able to make Malice in April, however.
Just thought you were there, Mark.
Good morning. It’s been a crazy week here so not much reading time. We’re supposed to close on my mom’s house tomorrow and suddenly the buyer’s lender who hasn’t asked for anything in a month wants things that I don’t have so now I’m scrambling trying to get what they want.
I did finish What You Are Looking For Is In The Library which Lesa previously reviewed.
I started Failure Is Not An Option by Gene Kranz. It’s a book about the space program from the Mercury through the Apollo missions from the viewpoint of Mission Control. It’s interesting but I had to put it aside since I can’t concentrate on it right now.
Sandy, a friend had the same thing happen to her when she was selling a house. They waited until the last minute to ask for things. Why aren’t they more organized? It’s what they do for a living! Well, I guess I shouldn’t complain to you, of all people. But, it really doesn’t make sense. Good luck with the process!
I can see why you can’t concentrate right now. Sending hugs!
One of those weeks! Something every day usually involving several hours in the car and company this weekend for the Annual Reno Balloon Races. Meanwhile, a wildfire started near Loyalton, CA Monday afternoon in the Tahoe National Forest. It’s a heavily wooded area, so lots of smoke.
My reading this week was mostly GOD OF THE WOODS by Liz Moore. It’s an interesting character study of a wealthy family and the summer community, filled with immersive detail of both people and location. Set at a summer camp in 1975 when a camper goes missing, with a parallel story of the camper’s brother missing in 1961. I found a verse from an old song running through my head as I got sucked into the details of red herrings & plot twists. “Why do you build me up (build me up) just to let me down (let me down)”
A couple of weeks ago, Lindy recommended Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy. That book wasn’t available at the library, but I was able to download a collection of his short stories, THE SADNESS OF BEAUTIFUL THINGS. The author weaves events from everyday people into a complex and touching collection.
Your week sounds hectic, MM. I’m sorry. My sister has one of those coming up soon, and she’s already a wreck. She has a trip with our family followed by company that weekend – no break. I hope you find some down time.
And, of course, some time just for yourself to do a little reading.
Thanks in part to your recommendations, Lesa, I’m on my way through Cara Hunter’s DI Adam Fawley series. I’m just starting the third, NO WAY OUT, and I think there are four after this one. Excellent police procedurals, darker than my own but not unbearably so, and thrilling.
It doesn’t hurt, Kim, that Jeff is going through the series, too, and really liking them. Enjoy!
I’m up to the same one, Kim. Yes, they’re darker, but really good.
Just stopping by to say Hi to Kim, who I met at Bouchercon Nashville. I am checking out Cara Hunter too. Thanks for the recommendation.
Hi Karen! It was nice to meet you, too! Sorry I’m only replying now; I was flying from Charlotte, NC, to Zürich yesterday and just got home to Bern this morning. Two great weeks in the US (Bouchercon, plus seeing my sister and an old college friend), but it’s wonderful to be home! (After 36 years, Bern really is home–not to mention that I missed my husband!)
So sorry to hear about the cancellation of your favorite singer’s visit – such a bummer. I hope that you will indeed get one more chance!
It’s been beautiful weather here and I am trying to get in as much bike riding as I can before it turns too cold. I managed to get a fair bit of outdoor chores done over the holiday weekend, which always feels great.
I FINALLY got the book “The Women” by Kristin Hannah from the library – the hold list was crazy. I thought that it was an incredibly powerful and important book – all women should read this – to see how resilient we are and how far we have come and to inspire us to get out into our communities to find female veterans of war and say thank you.
Next up – a cozy mystery! After spending time in the Vietnam era with my last book, I think a cozy is called for!
I’m glad you’re enjoying the weather while you can, Mary.
I haven’t read The Women, but some in my family have, and they say the same thing you do about it. I can understand why you’re ready for a cozy mystery afterwards!
Happy reading!
Oh, The Women! Yes! I agree. I wish i could put a copy into the hands of everyone I know.
It’s great to be home again after the crash, 6 days in the hospital, and 3+ weeks in a skilled nursing facility. The food is infinitely better, although I still don’t have all of my appetite back, and I’m so happy to sleep in my own bed (still with the cervical collar on). But strangely, I didn’t expect to be so weak and tired. and taking over the pain meds is a challenge. I can’t wait to have a shower, as we deal with the details.
I did read a couple of books and reviewed them using my iPad and some voice to text, but it was so frustrating and slow. I’m currently skimming through a book that turned out to be horror (not my jam).After getting down to one book on my NetGalley shelf, I got NINE books from NG in the past few weeks, and 3 will be published in October, so I need to get going,
Also, I had to get started on the November issue of The Stiletta, the newsletter I edit for Sisters in Crime NorCal. I threw myself on the mercy of the members, and they are already sending or promising me articles. Wonderful group!
Hopefully I will be able to post some reviews next Thursday. In the meantime, I will continue to read and enjoy the blog daily.
Margie! SO happy to see you here! You have been missed, dear woman. Sending good wishes for your continuing recovery.
Margie,
We all missed you. I can’t even imagine how frustrating everything must be for you – from reading and writing to the simplest tasks. Welcome back to both your homes – your actual one, and this one.
Margie, I’m glad you’re back at home and I understand completely about feeling weak and tired. It’s so overwhelming to now have to look after things yourself, even though home is where you want to be. I’m sure you’ll feel a million times better once you manage to successfully have a shower. And I look forward to reading your reviews again!
After a fairly long spell of reading books that were not all that satisfying, or discarding books after 15 or 20 pages, I finally picked up a Barbara O’Neal book; In the Midnight Rain. Lovely. ❤
Drscription from Amazon:
Two converging mysteries compel a woman’s search for the truth in a captivating novel about loss, love, family, and healing by the USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids.
Biographer Ellie Connor is in Gideon, Texas, to research blues singer Mabel Beauvais who, on the verge of fame, mysteriously disappeared more than forty years ago. Gideon holds another mystery for Ellie. It’s the truth about her parents—a restless mother who died young and a father she never knew. They are an unsettled piece of Ellie’s own past. Somewhere in this town is the answer to both of her quests.
No one is more accommodating than charismatic Laurence “Blue” Reynard, a local with deep roots in Gideon. Sexy and charming, he’s also getting under Ellie’s skin like a smooth jazz rhythm. Yet beneath his seductive facade is a soul damaged by loss. Tragic, wanting, and beautiful. So wrong for a woman just passing through town. If only his passion and vulnerability weren’t so irresistible.
As Ellie pieces together Mabel’s puzzling life and that of her father, Blue takes the surprising journey with her. What then for Ellie? Follow her instincts and say goodbye, or follow her heart?
Follow her heart!
I’m so happy you found that Barbara O’Neal book, Kaye.
Three books for me this week.
I usually love Heather Webber’s books, but A Certain Kind of Starlight wasn’t for me. Two half-sisters go home to Starlight, Alabama at the request of their Aunt Bean despite being gone for many years. Addie can’t keep a secret and left to keep the secret of her dead friend. Tessa Jane feels the darkness after a bad break up and the pressure of what to do with her half of the trust when she turns 25. I didn’t really care for either of the main characters and I just didn’t like the storyline.
The Year of What If by Phaedra Patrick was her usual feel-good story. I liked this one. Carla is 42-year-old bride to be with a failed marriage and a dating service business. That’s how she met her perfect match in Tom. Her sister and aunts take her to a fortune teller as part of the prewedding festivities. Carla is told her perfect match is someone she met on her gap year 20 years before. So, while Tom is in the States at a gaming convention, Carla is racing through Europe revisiting all her ex-lovers. This was fun if not predictable.
My last book was my favorite. I haven’t read anything by Jane L. Rosen that I haven’t loved. Seven Summer Weekends was the sequel to On Fire Island. Addison has been fired from her job at the same time she realizes she’s inherited her aunt’s home on Fire Island. She goes there to regroup and decide whether or not to sell. There she meets the handsome irritable man next door Ben (the main character in On Fire Island), I enjoyed this one very much.
I think your book was the book mentioned in Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, Lesa. I have not read it yet. And I am sorry about the concert. My daughters grew up with Peter, Paul, and Mary songs. Their Uncle Jimmy is a big fan and made sure they were a part of their musical education. I hope it’s able to get rescheduled.
Happy Reading!
Oh,I didn’t realize there was a sequel to On Fire Island, Sharon. Thank you for mentioning it!
Happy Reading to you, too!
I am late again! I am reading Fannie Flagg’s Welcome To World, Baby Girl! and I am loving it, The reviews said they didn’t like this book as much as her others. but I like it even more. In the back of the book, she tells about who she based the characters on and the conversation with Tennessee Williams was based on her own conversation with him. Tiny print but it is so good, I don’t notice it.
You are not late, Carol. We’re not on a time schedule here. And, I love it when readers go back and read something that came out a while ago. Spoon River Anthology is over 100 years old.
Regarding Spoon River Anthology, during the pandemic the Planned Parenthood sold a few books online, and Glen was able to get a very nice older copy of Spoon River Anthology, and he read it soon after that.
We have been dealing with ants coming in all over the house. But not so much in the kitchen, which is nice. This happens every few years and it is maddening. I read that there had been warnings of increasing populations of ants in 2024. We have never really been successful in eliminating them, they just gradually go away.
I am now reading SILENT VOICES by Ann Cleeves last night, the fourth book in the Vera series. I am close to halfway through and I am enjoying it. It has been 6 years since I read the third book in the series.
I also started a nonfiction book, TUDORS, by Peter Ackroyd. It covers “The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I.” I hope I can keep up with this book and not let it sit on the back burner too much. This was Glen’s book and he passed it on to me. He has read the first book in the series, FOUNDATION: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors.
Glen is continuing to read INSIDE THE VICTORIAN HOME: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England by Judith Flanders.
I’m loving it, Tracy.
Sometimes, that’s the best way to read, a nonfiction along with a novel. That gives you a break from the heavier one.
I thought you might find this as interesting as I did: I looked on our local library’s website for Kristin Hannah’s The Women and found the following:
ebooks – 1381 holds on 150 copies!! (I don’t even remember seeing that many)
audio books – 534 holds on 69 copies.
But:
book – 2 copies available now
large print book – 3 copies available now
I wonder if this is general, if it says something about this book, if it has to do with readers in Brooklyn, or what. Anyway, I ordered a copy of the book.
I know – it’s crazy! I did listen to the audiobook through the Library’s Libby app. I think that I was on the hold list for at least 5 months if not longer. I hope that you like it.
Well, readers don’t have to go into the library to get the ebook, but that is crazy. You’re right.
I had to go to an Indonesian function this weekend, so I spent the whole time reading my kindle. We had a heat warning this week, but it wasn’t as bad as July, when it hurt to go outside.
This week I read:
Peking Duck and Cover by Vivien Chien; It’s Chinese New Year, and the Asian Plaza has a big celebration, and wouldn’t you know it, there’s a murder. Lana Lee investigates, under pressure from everyone but her boyfriend and her mother. I really enjoy this series.
The Voice of Math by Dave Kester; Despite the self-congratulatory tone, a good book about the ins and outs of math and why it’s so important. I read several books like this a year, but I always remember almost every English Major I ever met says they chose it so they wouldn’t have to do math.
A Curse in Kyoto by SJ Cullen; A poor little rich girl pulls an All Japanese boy into the investigation of a haunted musical instrument, and a geisha ghost. Starts out like a Scooby Doo type deal, but soon changes into a more serious tone. A good debut. I’ll have to get to the next one in the series.
Murder in a Cup by Lauren Elliot; I think there’s a mystery here, but I lost sight of it with all the world building, pandering, and info dumping.
If You Dare by AR Torre; This is the third book in the series. This time the lady is in jail, where she belongs. I can’t believe a series this tiresome as lasted so long.
Beirut Contract by Chuck Bainbridge; #4 in The Hard Corps, an 80’s Men’s Adventure series. A do-gooder is kidnapped by terrorists in Lebanon, and her father hires the Corps to get her back, which they do after depopulating most of Beirut.
Ellery Queen’s Mystery Jackpot; An All Star list of authors are in this anthology. I liked George Harmon Coxe’s story best.
Glen, both my parents were born in Indonesia. They were both in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps for almost five years during the second world war. My mother was 13 by the time the war ended (she was younger and was allowed to stay together with her brother and mother throughout) and my father was 17 by the end (he was older and torn away from his mother and father). It was many many years before he talked about it at all but he had a horrific time of it – tortured by the Japanese; contracted dysentery; starved. I think it broke him – as I was growing up I don’t remember him ever being happy. Survivor’s guilt. He couldn’t get past it.
Oh, Lindy. I’m sorry about your father. I can’t imagine what he went through.
I need to try one of Vivien Chien’s books. So many people seem to like them, and the fact that you’re into the series, and still liking it says a lot, Glen.
A Curse in Kyoto sounds interesting.
Just finished {ASSIONS IN DEATH by J D Robb. Enjoy each one of these bookds. Nora has such a wonderful way with descriptions of the clothing etc that I enjoy. Very clever urders as well. oved on to ROSE ARBOR. It is pretty good so far.
Totally agree, Carol Jeanne. Love this entire series and the characters. Never disappoints.