I don’t have a lot to talk about today, since you already heard most of my news. We had a wonderful weekend with family, and Mom’s party was a success. The weather decided to turn hot and humid, in the 90s with high humidity here. I like warm weather, but everyone in my family knows I prefer Arizona’s “dry heat” over Florida’s humid weather. If you read yesterday’s blog, you saw that Linda and I went to a lunch event that featured Mary Kay Andrews, author of Road Trip. That’s what I’m reading right now, so you even know that. And, Linda and I went to see the musical “Water for Elephants” last night. In case you’re curious, our reaction was “meh”. Not the best show we saw this season.
This means I caught you up on everything I’ve been doing, the weather, and what I’ve been reading this week. What about you? Now, I’d rather catch up with you and your news. What have you been reading? What did you do this past week?
I have very little that will be of interest to anyone this week.
There is an LL Bean store about a 45-minute drive from where we live, and we made the trek this week to return a couple of items I’d ordered online. While we were there I said to David he should look around while I had a quick look in the women’s section. Not five minutes later, danged if I didn’t hear him chattering away with the sales guy on his way into a fitting room! For the first time in the 51 years we’ve been married, David picked out a shirt completely – and apparently willingly -on his own! He hates shopping, always says he has enough shirts, but lo! He is now the proud owner of a new $99 shirt. ($71 USD). I don’t know what came over him, and I don’t know if I’m more shocked that he picked something to buy on his own, or that he was happy to spend an exorbitant amount of money on a shirt. It was altogether a weird experience for me!
Back to the safety of books! At least I know where I am with them. This week I read:
DOLLY ALL THE TIME by Annabel Monaghan
A quick, easy, entertaining rom-com.
Dolly, kindergarten teacher in Boston and single mother of 13-year-old Gus. Her mother walked out on the family many years ago and Dolly’s been helping out and looking after everyone and everything since then. She and Gus head back to small town Whitfield for the summer to help out after a fire at her father’s house, and to help him at the fish store he owns.
One day she delivers an order of shrimp to Eight Oaks, the palatial home of the Whitfield family. On her way back she comes across Stewart Whitfield, the son in that eminent family. He’s not having a good day; he’s just been publicly dumped by his girlfriend and that isn’t his only problem. Also, he’s in line for the CEO position in the family business, but apparently the lack of a girlfriend is not a good thing and the whole promotion may not happen now.
The next day Stewart turns up at the fish store and has a question for Dolly – will she consent to being his fake girlfriend for a couple of months till after the big Gala? It would be good for his image, and she can name her price. Thinking of how her Dad needs a new roof, she asks for an astronomical figure, he says yes, and the story takes off. Of course we know how it will end but it’s fun watching them get there, and seeing how Dolly manages in the ultra-rich world of the Whitfields and their family, and how Stewart manages with Dolly’s decidedly not rich family.
Despite coming from two distinctly opposite ways of life, Dolly and Stewart have some similarities which is good in some ways yet causes difficulties in others. They both have to learn things about themselves and about life before they can get their happy ending.
There are funny moments, as well as emotional ones. It’s almost a coming-of-age story even though the characters are in their thirties. While I enjoyed it very much, Nora Goes Off Script remains my favourite book by this author.
VILLA COCO by Andrew Sean Greer
This is a somewhat difficult book to review. There were things I liked about it, but also a few that kept it from being great for me, one of which didn’t even have to do with the story – the book is divided into three parts but there are no chapters so there was never a logical place to stop reading.
Throughout college ‘our young man’ has been rather aimless, heavily partaking of the sexual freedoms of the day, but managing to get it together in the end and has earned a degree in Archives and Record Management. He answers an ad calling for someone to catalogue a personal collection of a variety of possessions in their home in the Italian countryside. He gets the job but it’s nothing at all like he’d expected it to be. Far from the orderly, meticulous work he was expecting it is instead completely chaotic as he works for Coco, a 92-year-old Baronessa, at her villa. Indeed, when he arrives, he’s told the rooms he’s to catalogue aren’t ready yet even though he’s to finish the job within three months, and in the meantime he is set to work on all manner of things completely unrelated to the job he was hired to do, none of which are even remotely in his skill set. Septic tanks anyone?
I liked Part 1 the most; very amusing and not what I’d been expecting. I was immediately drawn into this world of the absurd life of the Baronessa and the people in her life. Then Part 2 and 3 bogged down for me when it lost anything like a linear plot and became a series of vignettes and stories and happenings concerning the various characters but they didn’t advance the story, so the momentum stalled. The tale meandered here and there and became philosophical at times, and characters entered the tale, left, and were replaced by others. But eventually we came to know and understand a bit about what made them who they were. The way the author was able to bring the Italian setting and people to life so vividly was one of my favourite parts of the book. But overall, other than the first part, I can’t say I warmed to any of the characters enough to enjoy the rest of it, although I think I’m in the minority as most reviews have been much kinder than mine.
That’s so funny, Lindy. It doesn’t matter if you think things won’t interest us. I enjoy your writing, and thought the story of David at the LL Bean was funny. When you said he was “chattering away with the sales guy”, you had me smiling.
I have Dolly All the Time on my Kindle. You’ve made me want to read it soon. Thank you!
Thanks for posting my comment, Lesa. I don’t know why sometimes I can post, and others, not.
Lindy, loved the story. I hate to shop too. We’ll be going to L.L. Bean in Maine with my cousins in July.
Lindy, we have an L.L. Bean store about 15 minutes from us but I’m the opposite of David. I saw a shirt I liked, looked at the price tag and wasn’t spending $99 for a shirt. I wound up finding a similar shirt at Tractor Supply at the end of the season marked down to $13
I have Dolly All the Time in my queue, sounds delightful.
Clearly, sometime when you were not aware, David was overtaken by an Alien Entity of some type. You should protect yourself.
LOL, my thoughts exactly.
Glad the party was a success!
Our weather is floating between 80’sand low 90’s. I love my warmth, but 80’s are actually my ideal temp, so I’m happy with it.
Reading wise, I’m working on THE QUIRKY QUIZ SHOW CAPER by Sally Carpenter. This is book four in her series featuring a 70’s teen idol trying to keep his career going in the 90’s after giving up alcohol and drugs. Of course, there are dead bodies to contend with. This is me, and that means mysteries. I’m enjoying this book even though the Quiz Show part of the plot was late to come into things.
Thank you, Mark! I agree. 80s are my temperatures, too, but we have the humidity to go with it. I guess I’m seldom satisfied with it.
I like the sound of that series by Sally Carpenter.
Mark,
I really enjoyed the Sandy Hawkins series, but I think there are only 4 books in it.
There are a total of six books in the series, so I’ve got two more once I finish this one.
Our weather is HOT over the next few days! We’re headed to a concert tomorrow and I have multiple medical appointments today.
I’m currently reading Book of Lives by Margaret Atwood and listening to Queen Esther by John Irving.
I don’t know, Melissa, if I’d be happy to get the medical appointments out of the way, or tired of all of them in one day.
Enjoy the concert!
We’re supposed to be in the 90s and humid for a couple of days with a chance of thunderstorms. Not my favorite weather.
This past weekend there were a couple of used book sales, one at a library and one at a school. Even though it was the third day for both I may to find some books. Yesterday I donated a box of books to a charity bookstore and picked up a few while I was there.
This week I read:
An ARC of LIFEGUARD: A LOVE STORY by Janet Fash. A memoir about being a lifeguard on New York’s Rockaway Beach. It was an interesting read but I think a love story is a bit of a misnomer. I was surprised how disfunctional and corrupt the lifeguard system in New York City is.
BOB by Wendy Mass. A girl returns to her grandmother’s house in Australia. The last time she was there she was five and she doesn’t remember her previous visit until she finds a small green creature in a chicken suit in her closet. He’s been waiting in there for five years for her to return and help him find his way home. It was a cute book.
THE UNLIVED LIVES OF RAYMOND QUINN by William Matthies. A very strange book about a man who 46 years ago but doesn’t know he’s dead who gets a chance to experience snippets of lives he might have led. I don’t recommend this one.
THE RANGER COURTS THE CELTIC WITCH by Kristen Painter. A cute paranormal romance featuring a bear shifter, a witch, an imp, and wishes gone wrong.
Sandy, The variety in your books made it seems as if you’re competing with Glen for the most eclectic selection of books in one week. Interesting choices.
I know. This weather isn’t my favorite, either.
Well, this week started off rough. My husband found out on Monday that he is being let go from the company he has worked at for 30 years. His last day is June 30th. Unfortunately, he is still not old enough to collect Social Security so he will have to find another job. It won’t be easy but hopefully something will turn up.
This week I managed to get three books read:
Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding by Rhys Bowen. Georgie, her mother and her grandfather are planning to get married. One of Georgie’s mother’s ex-husbands leave Georgie and her fiancée a house. Georgie moves to the house and all kinds of weird things start happening. Someone dies, then Georgie’s mom moves in because her fiancée’s mother died and they can’t get married, and then grandfather’s fiancée dies so he moves in too. Georgie’s mom keeps saying that there are many priceless heirlooms missing from the house. There’s a lot going on in the book, but it all comes together in the end.
Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line by Elle Cosimano. This is the 6th book in the Finlay Donovan series. I read the first 13 chapters through NetGalley and finally got the book from the library so I could read the rest. Finlay’s nanny – Vero is arrested for stealing money from her sorority. The money came from unsanctioned poker games. One student lost $30,000 from playing poker and his parents want their money back. Vero is on house arrest till her trial, but she keeps finding ways to leave her electronic monitor and go with Finlay to investigate. Vero swears she didn’t take the money.
May Contain Murder by Orlando Murrin. Paul’s house has been flooded, and he has no place to live till all the repairs are completed. His friend Xera offers him an all-expense paid trip on a private superyacht. When Xera’s necklace goes missing all suspicion falls on Paul but then Xera ends up dead. Paul doesn’t care for Xera’s new husband. There’s just something off about him. Lots of secrets and dalliances amongst the guests.
Bev, I’m so sorry. I’ll keep your husband in my thoughts. That’s so rough. I wish you both good luck.
My sister loves the Georgie books by Rhys Bowen. This one does seem quite busy.
Bev, really sorry about your husband losing his job. I hope he will find another one soon that he will both
enjoy and be valued at.
Good luck to your husband and to you Bev. It’s so stressful to put in a lifetime with one company and find the reward is losing the job. Hopefully the perfect situation awaits.
I feel sad for your husband, 30 years is such a long time to work for a company and then lose his job.
Bev, that stinks about your husband’s job. I hope he can find another. Luckily for us, Jackie was able to retire from teaching after 34 years, at age 56, and we had her pension, so didn’t have to worry about Social Security.
Thank you for the well wishes, everyone. The company he works for was bought by an India company about 5 years ago and didn’t offer much in benefits either so no pension or 401k.
Oh Bev I am so sorry for your husband. Being let go, even when it has nothing to do with your job performance feels so personal. I hope that he has good luck finding another job to take him closer to getting his social security. Keep us posted here.
What terrible news about your husband’s job Bev. How stressful for both of you! I hope he finds a new job soon and that he ends up somewhere that’s a good fit for him.
Another week when Jeff couldn’t post. I’m so frustrated with this, but always happy to post for you if you can’t get into the blog for some reason.
Most people in New York are going crazy over the Knicks, who are now ONE GAME away from their first NBA Championship since 1973 (my era), after last night’s incredible comeback. I must admit, basketball is not my top game, though of course I am hoping they can finish the job. It really is bringing the city together, in a lot of ways.
We’re getting your hot and humid weather too, so we plan to stay in today and tomorrow.
Books. Jackie really enjoyed Wendy Corsi Staub’s first Lily Dale book, NINE LIVES. Staub comes from the westernmost city in New York Sate, on Lake Erie. That’s your free fact of the day. She is now reading Texan Katherine Center’s first book, THE BRIGHT SIDE OF DISASTER. This starts with the heroine’s fiance dumping her for another woman, shortly before she goes into labor. She likes this one too.
I believe I’ve read just about all of David Sedaris’s books, and I particularly enjoy his stuff about his family, including his awful father (who died at 98). The latest one, THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE, was no exception, and I zipped right through it.
The rest of my reading isn’t finished. I am closest (today or tomorrow) to finishing a new collection of John Dickson Carr’s earliest stories, including stuff he wrote as a teenager before he became a professional mystery writer, The Unexpected Instinct.
Also reading short stories by James Salter, LAST NIGHT.
At the recommendation of a friend, I am reading MONSTERS IN THE ARCHIVES: MY YEAR OF FEAR WITH STEPHEN KING by Caroline Bicks, which mostly looks at his early works.
Also started the new Michael Connelly novel, IRONWOOD.
The best way to describe the weather this year is quirky! Eighty degrees in February, followed by two recent freezes. The plants are so confused, but valiantly re-leafing. Mostly windy this week with plenty of sun.
I finally read THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans, it was highly recommended here in April, 2025. An epistolary novel with some great characters. I loved the idea of the protagonist corresponding with famous authors. To quote the book jacket “about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age”
And to reach back even further (2012) WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE by Maria Semple. The epistolary comedy about an eccentric, agoraphobic former architect, Bernadette Fox, who disappears before a family trip to Antarctica. One of the earlier novels to use emails, documents, and letters to present the story. The author has a new book out this year, so the previous success is getting renewed attention.
I’m currently reading the latest Tana French novel from her Cal Hooper series, THE KEEPER. It’s amazing how she balances so many fleshed-out characters. Absorbing!
I think that’s a good way to describe everyone’s weather, MM. Good for the plants for hanging in there.
I liked The Correspondent, but didn’t love it as much as others did. Probably me.
I never read Semple’s book.
Good morning! It’s been a quiet week for me, nothing really to report except the weather is hot! We are firmly in the high 90s this whole week, and the only good news is that the forecast has gone from 101 today to “only” 99. Here’s what I have been reading this week.
A followup to the first in a series, SECOND CHANCES AT THE HOPEFUL HEARTS BOOKSHOP by Debbie Johnson returns to the Scottish village of Bonnie Bay, where random individuals who unexpectedly find invitations hidden in books and addressed to “the right person at the right time” travel to the bookshop to take a break from their current lives. The first book in the series covered two strangers who happened to meet each other on the way to the bookshop, and how their lives are changed, in addition to upheaval in the bookshop itself. In the second book, a third person finds another invitation and accepts it, hoping to change her life for the better as well. Jane has been a single mom for years, starting when 16-year-old Beth was a small child. Her relationship with Beth has recently become more difficult, as her daughter is looking for more independence and simultaneously suffering from inattention from her faraway father. Jane takes a 3-week leave from her boring but demanding job, and she and Beth are immediately enchanted by the bookshop and the locals who adore the elderly owner and look forward to the annex, which will house a new gallery. But no one–not even Beth–knows that Jane has a special connection to Bonnie Bay, though she has never visited it, and that they are sharing accommodations with an Irish designer and artist who was once Romeo to Jane’s Juliet in a high school play. Jane and Rory had launched a love affair at that tender age, but something had gone very wrong that almost destroyed both of their lives. They haven’t seen each other in 14 years, and the shock pf their reunion leads to conflicting emotions. Will the two get back together when they discover what had caused their bitter breakup? You might guess, but of course that’s the fun of the story. There were fewer plot lines in this book than in the first, but it still left me hoping there will be at least one more book in the series. (July)
In Rhys Bowen’s new standalone, THE CASTLE IN THE GLEN, set in 1965, famed author Iris intends to end her popular mystery series with a prequel featuring her detective protagonist in 1904. But Iris is starting to lose her memory, so she summons a fellow Australian author–young Emma–to help her finish the book. Emma is a junior editor at a publishing firm who has had some mild success with her first novel, but she can’t imagine why Iris, one of her idols, thinks she might be up to the challenge. After reading what Iris has already written, and with the exciting prospect of spending some time and Iris’s money in Scotland, where the mystery is set, she agrees to give it a try, trusting her company’s handsome lawyer to make sure she gets a fair deal. But when Emma starts doing her research on the isle of Skye, she is stunned to discover that Iris has based her story on a real cold case, where no one has ever been arrested for the deaths by drowning of two young lovers–a girl from a wealthy family and the unsuitable man she loves–or found the missing suitor her family didn’t want her to marry or her companion, who had previously been nicknamed “The Wild Girl.” not so coincidentally the name of the unfinished book in question. This is mostly a quiet book, but there are enough intricate twists and turns–some of them jaw-dropping–to keep the reader interested and absorbed. And I enjoyed experiencing the unique culture and customs of beautiful Skye. (August)
There’s an error in my second review–should be “the missing suitor he family wanted her to marry.”
You may have had a quiet week, Margie, but it sounds as if you read two good books. I always enjoy your reviews.
The Treasure House by Amy Matthews hit all the right notes for me.
Quirky small towns appeal to me and I adore old houses.
i loved it.
Description –
In this tender-hearted novel, a single mom’s fixer-upper may also open a new door to love—from the award-winning author of Someone Else’s Bucket List.
“A gorgeously warm and inviting novel about finding a place for yourself, even if it’s not quite the place you expected.”—Holly Gramazio, New York Times bestselling author of The Husbands
Zoe Copeland and her daughter Florence need a new start. The only problem is, Zoe can’t really afford one.
So when she stumbles across a listing for a charming cottage in Maine that is in her price range, she has no choice but to seize the opportunity. The catch? It’s a treasure house—filled to the brim with junk, and being sold as is.
Eleven-year-old Florence, who’s always longed for a room of her own, loves the old house full of cat figurines and other people’s memories, but Zoe is daunted by the mess and the cost of fixing up the place. Their grumpy new neighbor, Jake, thinks Zoe’s crazy for undertaking this task—though that doesn’t stop him from lending a hand, and it’s not long before Zoe starts daydreaming about the handsome handyman.
As the air turns crisp and fall sets in, Zoe becomes increasingly intrigued by the woman who lived in the house before them. Who was Marly, and how did her beloved home end up in such disrepair? As Zoe digs for more information, she can’t help but draw parallels between herself and Marly . . . but what does it say about her future if she’s still stuck in the past?
This was supposed to be a fresh start, a chance to give Florence the security she never had. But as Zoe uncovers Marly’s secrets and her own past comes crashing into the present, Zoe’s life is quickly becoming even messier than the coastal house she’s renovating. With her heart and her home on the line, can Zoe put all of the broken pieces of her life back together?
Kaye, I’m glad you found a good book to read this week. I know you were searching for one that fit your mood.
Hi Lesa – I really enjoyed yesterday‘s blog post about Mary Kay Andrews and you even got to have a picture with her! How exciting my sister-in-law was visiting since Saturday went home this morning. We were on the go the whole time. I’m looking forward to this evening, where I can put my feet up.
This week I managed to finish The Last Dance – the first in the detective Miller series by Mark Billingham. I liked this book well enough but it didn’t quite grab me the way some other books have. Declan Miller is a smart aleck, wise guy detective who I would not personally want to supervise. I’m not even sure if he is as good of a detective as he thinks he is. But the storyline was interesting. A double murder in a hotel, each man in his own room and killed with a shot to the head. Detective Miller has just returned to work after a too short period of mourning after losing his detective wife to murder. While trying to solve the double homicide, he simultaneously involves himself into the investigation of his wife, which is against procedure. His new partner DS Xiu is an interesting sidekick, and the suspects and his circle of friends are also an interesting bunch. Will read the next installment and see if my it inspires me a tad more than this one.
Hi, Mary. Mary Kay Andrew’s is so nice, and a good speaker. She took time with everyone.
I’ll wait to see what you think of the second book before trying the series.
I have been listening to Everybody’s Son by Thrity Umrigar. I was surprised, it is not about people in India or from India, it is about a United States Goveror and his adoption of black sone of a drug addict. It is quite emotional has a hefty mix of evil vs. good intentions.
I enjoyed a large print humor book, and have another one on grief that is not large print but comfortable print on grief.
Also, speeding through a book that is terrible. Stories Woven in Silver: Pointing Kids to the Gospel Through Children’s Literature by Kathryn Butler and Korrie Johnson. I hesitated on picking it and wish I hadn’t! It is narrow-minded. I was naive to the tricks that some people do to prevent children from reading certain books. The author discouraged mishelving some books they thought should be banned on purpose! They said that libraries will order even more copies. I have read glowing reviews of this book, but they turn my stomach,
,
Carol, I wouldn’t finish Stories Woven in Silver, but I admire you for reading a book that isn’t your viewpoint. And, you read a great deal this week despite your problems with your eyes. I hope that’s a good sign.
This week, the weather has been hot, and so windy PG&E are talking about shutting the power off to avoid fires.
Saturday, I went to a concert at Thunder Valley, which is the first stop for a lot of tours, as a place for a final tune up before really going out on the road. We saw Richard Marx. Back in the day, being known as a Richard Marx fan was like putting a target on your back for all the bullies in town, but that was a long time ago.
Starship opened. They really miss Grace Slick. She had something that was irreplaceable. In the late period, they sang duets where Mickey Thomas sang the parts the girl usually sings, while Grace sang the man’s parts. Really gave them a different sound for the time.
Wilson Phillips were second. They do okay, but they seem to talk more than they sing. I liked their renditions of their parents hits more than their own.
Richard Marx was a lot better than I expected. Very engaging. He sang a lot of songs. I liked his new album, where he sings standards from the American Songbook, and songs that he wrote that sound like those songs the best. It was a good show, but he didn’t make anyone faint like Paul Anka did.
This week I read:
Rescue The Innocent by Christina K. Gross; A cruise ship novel. The female captain is so busy being a strong independent woman, she almost loses her ship. This ain’t The Love Boat. (For one thing, no role for Sonny Bono)
The Bad Guys Episode I by Aaron Blabey; A Wolf persuades his friends, a shark, a snake, and a piranha to stop being villains and become good guys. Very funny. For the book club.
Kings of the Earth by Christopher Stanton; The Wild Hunt plagues a town in UP Michigan, where there’s quite a surfing culture. It doesn’t quite hang together, but there are scary bits. To this day, a certain number of UFO sightings are of The Wild Hunt. Weird stuff.
Death at Moon Haven Light by KS Van; A woman inherits an old house in Maine. There’s Lovecraftian things going on and the house is haunted. I’m not big on ghostly romances, but this one wasn’t too bad.
The Cold Cash War by Robert Asprin; A dysptopian novel about how corporations have taken over everything, and people are trying to hide a war. It’s actually a lot like today…only without the internet or iphones.
Glen, we saw Grace Slick and the rest of Jefferson Airplane at the Fillmore East in late November of 1970. She was about 8 months pregnant and in a foul mood. Someone gave her a stuffed animal for the baby (her daughter was born in January 2971) and she threw it at them.
Good luck with the weather, Glen.
I enjoyed your recap of the concert. Thank you!
It’s a fun selection of books this week. The Bad Guys sounds fun. And, I hadn’t thought about the Wild Hunt in a long time.
Hello! Peter and I are back from our two wonderful weeks in Sardinia. Apart from perfect weather, beaches, medieval churches and towns, gorgeous scenery, and interesting ruins, I had lots of reading time, so I have a lot of books to mention. I’ll try to keep the descriptions short, I promise.
I think the book I enjoyed most was a debut by Australian Tanya Scott, STILL WATER. The hero is Luke Harris, a man in his twenties who worked for a dangerous crime boss as a child and teenager and has started a new life under a new name. Then his former boss recognizes him on the street and insists on putting him back to work against his will. This is a thriller in which Luke tries to figure out a way to get free of his former life again without getting himself or anyone he cares about killed. Luke is an appealing hero, and the book is very exciting, so I highly recommend it.
Another exciting thriller was MIDNIGHT BLACK, part of Mark Greaney’s Gray Man series. This was the fourteenth book in the series, and it moves at a terrific pace, with exceptionally brave characters, all kinds of fighting, and miraculous escapes and rescues. So if you’re looking for thrills, you can read this as a standalone. But I prefer less action and more character development, so I won’t pursue the series.
Lesa, thanks for recommending Allan Gaw’s THE SILENT HOUSE OF SLEEP, the first Dr. Jack Cuthbert mystery, which was excellent. It’s about a forensic pathologist working with Scotland Yard post-World War I. The book offers an interesting and likable (though traumatized) hero and is a good police procedural with flashbacks to the trenches. I look forward to reading the next four books in the series.
HEARTWOOD, by Amity Gaige, is more novel than mystery—it’s about a park ranger in Maine supervising an increasingly desperate search for a woman who has unaccountably gone missing from the last section of the Appalachian Trail after a months-long hike. The story gives us the points of view of the ranger, the missing woman, and a third woman, whose role in the story only slowly becomes clear. I liked this book, and it is well-written, but I find the extraordinary amount of praise it has received somewhat puzzling.
Belinda Bauer has won the CWA Gold Dagger Award, and her 2025 book, THE IMPOSSIBLE THING, is about collectors of birds’ eggs. The story moves between the 1920s, when struggling farmers and fishermen supplemented their incomes by raiding birds’ nests for the middlemen who would sell eggs to wealthy collectors, and today, when a young man finds an extraordinary egg in a box in his attic. As soon as he tries to sell it, it’s stolen, and he and his best friend resolve to track down the egg and the thief. Alternately funny, exciting, and moving, this is a surprising and fascinating story.
THE GODS OF TANGO (2015), by Carolina de Robertis, is not a mystery but an historical novel that begins in 1913 when Leda, a teenager from a small Italian village, follows her young husband to Buenos Aires three years after he has emigrated. She arrives to find that he has been killed, and she has no way to support herself. Taken in by other Italian immigrants who help her to earn a pittance as a laundress, she is enchanted by the tango music she hears in the city. All she has brought with her of value is her father’s violin, which she can play, but women are not allowed to play tango, the music of brothels and bars. How Leda deals with this setback and eventually joins a successful tango band is what most of this book is about. The portrait of Buenos Aires in the 1920s is extraordinary, and the power of tango music in Leda’s and other musicians’ lives is beautifully portrayed. Although the lush prose occasionally crosses the line into purple, I still enjoyed this book very much from beginning to end and heartily recommend it.
I mentioned two weeks ago when I wrote from Sardinia that Peter and I listened to Scalzi’s WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE and found it extraordinarily clever and often laugh-out-loud funny. We also tried listening to the much-praised YESTERYEAR by Caro Claire Burke. Unfortunately, the “heroine” is such an unbearable person, even after she is carried back in time to experience what it really means to be a traditional wife and mother, that we couldn’t put up with the book long enough to watch her get her comeuppance. I’d love to hear from someone who enjoyed this story, because we both disliked the first third intensely and didn’t make it any farther.
I’m currently reading HEAD CASES by John McMahon and listening to an Eve Ronin mystery by Lee Goldberg, and they’re both very good—more about them next week.
Welcome home, Kim, although it sounds as if you would have been very content to lead a retired life in Sardinia. It sounds beautiful.
My brother-in-law binge read all Mark Greaney’s books within the last couple months. Those are definitely his type of book. I prefer The Silent House of Sleep type, and I’m happy to hear there are four more books in the pipeline. Thank you, Kim!
My best friend told me not to bother with Yesteryear because she gave it a 1 out of 5, and hated the main character. I listened to her!
Fun to hear about your brother-in-law, Lesa. As I was reading the Gray Man book, I thought it was definitely a “boy book.” My husband and his friend from high school go to see violent, exciting action movies that are like this book, and I never go; we call them “boy movies.” I’m making a huge generalization, but I’m sure you know what I mean!