Happy Thursday, everyone! I’ll have time to be online this morning, and then later in the afternoon or early evening. Linda and I drove up to Mom’s yesterday. Today, the three of us, and my sister, Christie, are heading to Mentor, Ohio. We all have an interest in history, yet we’ve never been to President Garfield’s home, just over an hour from Mom’s. So, today is our day to visit Lawnfield, the James A. Garfield National Historic Site. And, who knows what other trouble we’ll get into today. I’ll report back next week.
So, tell us what you’ve been doing this week. What are you reading?
Late Tuesday night, I started Ann Cleeves’ new Detective Matthew Venn novel, The Dying Light. That doesn’t mean I had any time to read yesterday, with driving and family time. Here’s the online summary of the book.
DI Matthew Venn peels back layer upon layer to discover the dark secrets one family is keeping in this searing new novel, brimming with energy and taut with claustrophobic tension. A scorching heatwave marks the start of the summer in Devon. Detective Matthew Venn is called in to investigate a puzzling death, when the body of a young woman, Lottie, is found in the swimming pool of a luxurious holiday home. The girl’s best friend, Hannah, whose family owns the house, is missing. The girls had arrived a few days earlier to celebrate the end of their school exams, quickly stirring unrest in the small community with incendiary social media videos mocking the place as parochial.
When further tragedy strikes, Venn and his team begin questioning a community filled with secrets. The fact that Hannah’s father, Paul Armstrong, is a rising political star with powerful enemies draws intense media scrutiny to the case. With the summer heat come holidaymakers, and it emerges that some of them may have stronger connections with the Armstrong family than first thought. Venn knows all too well that the real answers lie not in what people say, but in the silences that they keep.
Taut, atmospheric, and brimming with suspense, this searing new novel finds DI Matthew Venn caught between a powerful family’s secrets and a powder keg of local tensions.
I always enjoy Cleeves’ writing. What about you? What do you want to talk about today? What are you reading?
Not the most interesting of weeks. A bit of fun (mahjong and going out for breakfast). A bit of work (laundry, housework, grocery shopping). A bit of worry (David’s latest blood test results show a big jump in PSA number despite no longer having a prostate, staying away from sugar, exercising, and having a good mindset, etc. Cancer is still lurking somewhere.)
Oh and we had our 26-year-old car in for servicing – oil change, new oil filter, ‘check engine’ light problem investigated (turned out to be a disconnected hose), brake check, snow tires put on, etc. The car passed with flying colours and total cost was only $132 CDN (about $94 USD).
Two books this week:
THE HAUNTED LIBRARIAN by Auralee Wallace
A story of a library, ghosts, and of learning to accept who you are.
Amelia has always been able to see ghosts, but felt she needed to keep that part of herself secret so she could be ‘normal’ and ‘fit in’. But the harder she tried, the odder she appeared and the more closed off she became. To this day the one place she feels safe and at home is in a library, so when – despite a rough start – she is hired to work in a library housed in a beautiful old building, well, she’s found her dream job.
But dang it all, there seems to be not one but three resident ghosts in the library. Amelia does her best to ignore them because how could she possibly tell her new bosses that she sees ghosts? She doesn’t want to see the incredulous, then disappointed looks on their faces that she’s been used to seeing for her whole life, and take a chance she’ll be fired.
Despite her best intentions she soon has no choice but to interact with the ghosts, all the while keeping her secret from kind and welcoming Rosalinda and perhaps even kinder, definitely handsome Simon. Somehow, the fact that the ghosts aren’t moving on is causing all manner of ominous paranormal activity and is turning the library into a menacing place and there are fewer and fewer patrons. It’s up to Amelia to save the library while at the same time doing something about the resident ghosts whose very presence is causing physical harm to the library.
Amelia herself was my least favourite character in the book, and I didn’t warm to her because it got a bit tedious and repetitive when she kept making excuses to herself about why she ‘couldn’t’ tell the truth about herself. On the other hand, I loved how the author portrayed each of the three ghosts, each one distinctive, believable, and entertaining. In general, the second half of the book was more gripping and ended up being quite suspenseful and touching.
I liked what the author wrote in her acknowledgments: ‘Finally, to librarians everywhere, thank you for safeguarding stories, welcoming readers, and keeping magic alive. The Haunted Librarian was written with you in mind.’
MAD MABEL by Sally Hepworth
A very good book and nothing like what I’d been expecting. Admittedly it’s the first book I’ve read by Sally Hepworth and I thought it would be a thriller sort of story and yes, it was suspenseful but also funny, and so sad it made me cry.
It’s been talked about here before so I won’t go into much detail. Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is 81 years old, and has been living a quiet life in Melbourne for the past sixty-six years. Then a neighbour dies and Elsie’s past comes back to haunt her– that of being Australia’s youngest convicted murderer. She didn’t kill her current neighbour but she’s for sure the prime suspect since all the rumours and questions surrounding her conviction decades ago are dredged up again. But no one but Elsie herself knows what really happened back then.
This time around she has a friend though (whether she wants one or not) – the force of nature that is seven-year-old Persephone, daughter of a neighbour and a wonderful character in the story.
The author told the story going back and forth between present day, and back when Elsie was a child growing up. Each time the story switched to another time I was bereft because I couldn’t bear to leave the tale. That happened every single time, until eventually it all came together. But whether I was reading about Elsie when she was 81 or 14, my heart ached for her.
I’m so glad I read this book.
Lindy, I think of you and David often. Keeping you both in my prayers.
Lesa, have you read Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard? It is an excellent biography of James Garfield, who was a very interesting man. Highly recommend it!
Thank you, Jennifer! I haven’t read Destiny of the Republic. I never know if I should read up on a subject before or after I go to the site.
Thank you Jennifer. As I do for Luciano and your family!
Thank you, Lindy! We very much appreciate that.
For what it is worth…. It took about nine months after my Dad’s prostate was removed before the PSA showed the drop. The one after his surgery, I think it was six weeks later, showed the biggest climb he ever had. The doc had a special name for it, one of those multiple word deals, that escapes me now as it was the late 90s.
Might be worth talking to the doc about.
Kevin, there’s another test in three months and then an app’t with the doctor already scheduled.
David’s surgery was three and a half years ago. Plus he had 20 sessions of radiation in February. Which is especially why the rising number is so worrying. We’ll see what the next test shows.
Lindy, You’ll notice I haven’t written much about my weeks the last couple ones. Sometimes, we just have ordinary weeks of luandry, etc. Life!
That’s sad when the protagonist is the least favorite character in the book. And, one of these days, I need to read Mad Mabel.
As Jennifer said, I think of you and David often. I know you worry more than he does.
Thanks Lesa, for thinking of us. Nice for me to know.
Keeping you and David in my mind, Lindy, and hoping for the best. Thanks for filling me in on MAD MABEL. I’ve been wondering whether to read it or not.
Thank you Kim.
So despondent to hear the news of your husband’s blood test. It’s just too frustrating doing all of the right things and the outcome doesn’t follow suit. I hope that he is able to get more assistance from the medical field.
I am in awe of your price tag for all of the work on your car – truly amazing!
Mad Mabel is on my TBR. Glad to read that you liked it. It does sound interesting!
Thanks Mary, for your comments. It is very frustrating!
Lindy, sincere best wishes to David. As someone who had prostate issues myself (thankfully not cancer, though it did require laser surgery), I know how scary it can be. But I still can’t understand the PSA number- surely PSA is “prostate specific antigen”?
I recommended MAD MABEL highly a couple of weeks ago, so glad you liked it too.
Jeff, yes PSA is ‘prostate specific antigen’, and I also find it confusing. As I understand it, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, and that then is the type that is technically still microscopically in his body because the PSA number is still climbing, and if eventually it’s detectable elsewhere – let’s say his bones – then it becomes bone cancer as well.
All I can think of is the surgeon saying to him after the surgery to remove the prostate: ‘We got everything out that’s surgically possible to get out, so now it will be down to luck; or if you’re a religious person then you’ll have that as well.’
I have to say that didn’t give me much confidence.
Lindy, I am so very sorry. Thinking good thoughts
Kind of you Sharon. Thank you.
What a thoughtless comment for the surgeon to make.
It didn’t give me confidence that all would be well, that’s for sure.
Lindy, just wanted you to know that I am holding you in my thoughts.
Thank you very much Kaye.
A bit of snow about an hour south of here yesterday, but not even a drop of rain at my house.
I started the week with a bit of “British Chiller” fiction. HAUNTED is a 1988 gothic horror novel by James Herbert for an Occult October challenge. Suspense meets the supernatural! The story follows David Ash, a cynical and skeptical paranormal investigator working for a psychical research institute who aims to debunk supernatural phenomena using science. The writing was captivating, completely tense, and creepy. But still not my genre.
THE CASE OF THE CHRISTIE CONSPIRACY by Kelly Oliver. The Detection Club Mystery Series is a five book series to date. I found it slow going, and the plot scattered. Not for me.
All the way back in March, Lesa gave THE PRIMROSE MURDER SOCIETY by Stacy Hackney high praise. But it took a second recommendation before I got around to it. The story follows a desperate single mother Lila Shaw and her true-crime-obsessed ten year old, Bea, as they move into a luxury retirement building in Richmond, Virginia, to clean out an apartment and investigate a 21-year-old cold case for a massive cash reward.
The sequel, The Primrose Murder Academy, is due out March 2027
Snow! Way too early for me, MM, but, I know not where you live.
Funny, once you sumarized The Primrose Murder Society, I remembered it, but the title didn’t even bring anything back to me.
I quite liked Primrose Murder Society and didn’t know there was going to be a second book! Thank you for mentioning it.
We’ve actually gotten some rain today. Hopefully, that will help keep the fires to a minimum as we go through the rest of fall.
I went to a sitcom taping Tuesday night – Shifting Gears. I was disappointed that the set directly in front of where I was sitting wasn’t used in the episode we saw, but I still had fun.
Reading wise, I’m working on Saving the Guilty, book seven in Liz Milliron’s Laurel Highlands series. I’m about half way through – not as far as I wanted to be by now, but too much else going on. I’m really enjoying it and can’t wait to see where everything goes.
Mark, I hope you don’t have fall fires this year. And, I hope you get more rain to alleviate them.
I think I’ve only heard of Liz Millron’s books here from you.
My husband watching that show, Mark – let us know when your episode airs and if you are on camera! While he does like the Jeremy Clarkson and gang episodes better, it’s great that they are continuing the series.
oops it sounds like you won’t be on camera, now that I re-read your post.
This is a sitcom taping, and the audience isn’t on camera for those. Not a talk show or game show, when the audience does show up.
It has been absolutely beautiful and fall like. I’m recovering from lumpectomy surgery and so I’ve been lucky to get out for some long walks since it’s been so nice. I just finished reading Helltown by Casey Sherman – which is a fascinating true crime book about serial killer Tony Costa who was active on Cape Cod in the sixties (right around the time that Ted Kennedy crashed that car on Chappaquidick). I’m going to review it soon. I just started reading Peck and Peck by Bonnie Garmus – I LOVED Lessons in Chemistry and this one seems good so far. She’s got a wonderful sense of humor and is fantastic at character development. I’m listening to Greenlights by Matthew McConnaughey.
Since I’m home too and trying to rest, I’ve starting to watch a lot of shows. I’m rewatching Mind hunter, and I LOVE it. I’m so sad that there isn’t a third season on the horizon. I’ve been watching some crime docs too.
Oh, Peck and Peck! I have a copy, Melissa, but haven’t started it yet. I’m happy to know you’re enjoying it.
I’ve thought of you, Melissa, and hope you’re making a good recovery. Sending hugs.
Wishing you a fast and full recovery!
I hope your recovery is going well
My daughter bought Peck and Peck and has promised to let me borrow it, so I’m looking forward to that.
I hope surgery went well and that you feel better very soon.
The weather’s been nice here. We went to a couple of rummage sales last Saturday but otherwise it’s been a quiet week.
I read THE GHOST AND THE DEAD LIBRARIAN by Cleo Coyle which Lesa has already reviewed. It was an OK read for me. I’ve read parts of that series over the years but it’s never been a must read for me.
An ARC of THE MAGIC OF CHAMOMILE COTTAGE by Heather Webber. This one I really enjoyed.
From Goodreads
Magic is brewing.
A storyteller in search of a story. A healer in need of hope. A town looking for a fresh start. And the magic that binds them together.
Popular storyteller Sunny Callaway is known for writing captivating human-interest stories, but lately she’s having trouble writing anything after a devastating diagnosis and a painful breakup. When a surprise discovery leads her to a small town fighting for survival after the closing of its tea factory, she finds family she hadn’t known and a story that will change her life forever.
Tea shop owner Nova Frances Clark has an old soul, a healer’s heart, and a big secret. Although her special chamomile tea blends can heal minor ailments, she’s at a loss on how to help save her hometown. When her long-lost cousin Sunny arrives for a visit, it sets into motion a dramatic revitalization plan, finally giving Nova hope for the future.
As they attempt to save the town, Sunny and Nova learn to trust the magic that comes from opening up to each other, that tea is best when it’s shared with those you love, and that the most meaningful stories come from the heart.
Sandy, The Magic book does sound good.
Nice weather for your adventures!
Good morning All – I hope that you have a great day with your family, Lesa. Are the colors great? We had a good time in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula last week, but it did rain more than we had hoped for. Today I have company coming to play Euchre, so I have housecleaning to get to.
Reading – I finished Theo of Golden. Had been on the wait list forever. It wasn’t what I anticipated, based on all of the hype. It felt a bit like a Frank Capra movie captured in a book. I think that I am just too used to reading murder mysteries!
I also finished Dark Harbor – the 3rd Detective Justice book in Bruce Robert Coffin’s series. Detective Justice and his partner are tasked with solving the murder of the town’s richest person, Granville Warren. He and his younger 3rd wife Lily come home to intruders in the house. Granville tries to stop the robbery of his safe. Lily gets her gun and starts shooting away. Granville and one of the robbers lie dead. The 2nd wounded intruder absconds but soon ends up murdered as well. The investigation uncovers Granville’s predilection for blackmailing everyone in the town. Who was behind the robbery – was it to obtain blackmail materials? Kill Granville? The book was a good page turner but toward the end it wrapped up too quickly and in a way that felt contrived to end the story.
Thanks, Mary! We’re getting ready to leave now. Leaves were so-so pretty on our drive up. We’ll see on our trip today.
I have the first Bruce Robert Coffin book home from the library, but haven’t read it yet.
Good morning! Here in NorCal we are enjoying the dropped temperatures–today it will only get into the 60s! So, of course, I had to pack away some of my summer tops and get out a bunch of sweaters–not the heaviest ones yet. I also unpacked my favorite cuddly throw blanket and put it at the side of my bed last night (didn’t need it yet, but it was comforting to know it was there). This week included getting my car serviced, getting my flu shot, playing Samba, and working on my newsletter–not very eventful, but it felt productive. Oh, and I saw Water for Elephants with the Drama Queens last weekend. I’ve never seen anything like it. I hadn’t read the book or seen the movie, so I wasn’t familiar with the story at all. It’s a pretty dramatic story, filled with music that is appropriate for the story but not necessary anything I will find myself humming. We all marveled at the fact that most of the actors also had a circus background or training, so the acrobatics and stunts were amazing. Also, the voices were terrific, which is always something I hope for. And the full-sized “puppet” of the elephant was impressive. I’m glad I went.
Right now I’m reading a wonderful book about tackling procrastination, which I will review for next week. Other than that, I have read two books this week:
‘Author Kristin Harmel has definitely succeeded in her goal of creating a book in the style and spirit of the movie Love, Actually. In MEET ME IN PARIS, multiple characters are visiting, or living in, the City of Light at the same time, and although their stories start individually, they ultimately overlap and evolve over the period of about a week. In her author comments, Harmel notes that the book features “seven intertwining love stories,” and since that’s a lot to digest and I had a review to write, I made a list while I was reading of all of the main characters, with a few words about who they were and what they were trying–or struggling–to achieve. There are two unhappy marriages, a woman with a fatal disease and her adult daughter, a rock star hoping to revitalize his career, two old friends who have never really seen each other clearly, an elderly woman with memory issues and a nurse in her memory care facility, an almost-centenarian on a mission, a bar co-owner looking for something different to do, and an accountant who moonlights as a street artist. I’ve probably forgotten someone, but it’s the melange of love stories–all kinds of love-=-that is the focus of this lovely book. I am a big fan of Love, Actually, and I can see the similarities, so . This is my first Kristin Harmel book. Most have been historical novels, but this one is apparently very different. I hope she will take on more curent stories, as I appreciate her writing style, her memorable characters, and her facility with handling a plethora of characters in such a way that each is featured and the result is both entertaining and uplifting. The short time span of the plot doesn’t allow for a lot of detail about each character, but I felt I knew them well enough to be invested in their stories and their success. My thanks to Lesa for recommending this book.
THE KILLING TIME is the second of Elly Griffiths’ Ali Dawson Mysteries. Ali is a London detective in a firm where one of its members has discovered a way to travel through time to a specified year and venue. Ali did it in the first book to help solve a particularly difficult mystery and found out that it can be quite dangerous, and that you can’t be certain you will always be able to return to the present day. The woman who developed the technology is back in Victorian London, having rescued one of their coworkers. She’s not sure she wants to return to the present, as some of her investments have made her a rich woman. The detectives have now been forbidden by their boss to use time travel in their work. But Ali and Bud, her colleague, arrange for her to time-travel back to just a week or so earlier, to close her cat door to keep her cat from escaping. Seems like a pretty frivolous use of such a dangerous technology, doesn’t it? But there are larger problems as Ali investigates a psychic medium who has told a teenager he can fly, whereupon the teenager is killed after jumping from a high building. Is the medium able to travel through time as well? And another man, long dead, is suspected of similar crimes. I enjoy the time travel aspect of the story, which is expanded to include other potential time travel methods. But the resolution of the investigation of the teenager’s suicide takes a back seat to the rest of the story, and I felt that some of the characters—notably Ali–are lacking depth that would make them more relatable. Nevertheless, a third series entry is on the way, and I will probably take another look. (November)
Margie, I have so much to say about your comments. I think you liked Water for Elephants more than Linda and I did. We did enjoy the acrobats and the elephant, though.
I read your sentence to Mom and Linda about reviewing the book about procrastination next week, and we all laughed. Very good!
I’m so glad you enjoyed Meet Me in Paris. I thought Harmel did a wonderful job with the story and characters and bringing them to life. Like you, I’m not really interested in her historical ones, although my mom likes them.
I haven’t read that Elly Griffiths book, but I think you caught the reason I’m not a fan. Her characters do sometimes lack depth and even personality, in my opinion. But, that’s just me.
Hello, everyone. Precious rain all day yesterday in Bern and sunny today. It isn’t often that I resent good weather, but our groundwater reserves, lakes, and rivers are so low that we must have more rain. I’ve been very busy since last Thursday, still catching up with friends after my month in the US, and cooking and stocking the fridge to prepare for guests for two weekends in a row. As a result, I have few books to report on this week.
One is May Sarton’s THE SMALL ROOM (1961), which a good friend, a retired professor from a small, prestigious women’s college, strongly recommended to me. I can see why she enjoyed it so much, since it’s about a 25-year-old woman, already married and divorced, who begins to teach at just such a college. The book is about her struggles to decide how friendly and personal she should be with her students, especially those who seek her out in her office for advice about their private troubles. While she is worrying about this dilemma, her professor colleagues are faced with a similar dilemma on a college-wide scale: a student’s plagiarism and how it should be dealt with. This is a short book full of interesting dialogues and discussions about everything from teaching methods to psychiatric interventions, and I enjoyed it, as I think anyone would who has ever taught adolescents (high school as well as college) and/or lived in a close community of colleagues who don’t always see eye-to-eye. It’s not exciting, but it is thought-provoking, and the young main character is smart and likable.
I also finished listening to my fifth Natasha Pulley, THE SALT KING, her most recent tale of a present-day but alternative world, in which an island off the coast of the English fens, Hreodwater, houses a population of salt miners with a completely different worldview and mythology than anyone else alive. Avelyn Brocken, the last member of his salt-mining clan, leaves the island at 16 to become a novice Jesuit priest at the Vatican, but is sent back to investigate when a pilgrim to Hreodwater turns to a pillar of salt. This book has complicated world-building, apocalyptic themes, and fascinating main characters. I found it excellent (and brilliantly read by its reader), although I’m starting to see a certain amount of repetition in the themes of Pulley’s different books.
I’m currently reading THE MONK, the 5th George Cross book by Tim Sullivan. As usual, George’s appalling rudeness bothers me a lot, even though I understand why it happens. Still, the story is good, and I’m enjoying the other characters, so I carry on with the series. More when I’ve finished the book next week.
That’s funny, Kim, that you were angry at the weather. I hope you get the rain you need.
It’s interesting what bothers different people. George’s rudeness never bothers me because it just feels part of his spectrum issues. I like George, but I probably wouldn’t like him in real life.
Enjoy, Lesa. The more I’ve read about Garfield in recent years, the more respect I have for him and what he might have accomplished if incompetent doctors didn’t finish him off.
Good morning, all. I’m finally back to more or less normal and Jackie is getting there after a couple of days of non-stop coughing.
Reading. Still way behind, but finally getting back to normal. I’ve been reading mostly short stories, most recently COUNTRY CHRISTIE, mentioned last time, and now in GOLDEN AGE DETECTIVE STORIES, edited by Otto Penzler, with stories by Ellery Queen, Frances and Richard Lockridge, Patrick Quentin, Stuart Palmer, Craig Rice, etc. Of course, I’ve read many of them in the past.
I am a long-time fan of the late James Sallis, starting with his series about New Orleans PI Lew Griffin, and going on to the exciting DRIVE and the sequel, DRIVEN), turned into a movie with Ryan Gosling, plus most of his other standalones and his short story collection. Sadly he died in January, but we have one last, posthumously published novel, BACKWATER, and must for fans.
Bishop was a cop for many years before he became a professional musician, first country and later jazz. But a friend from his days on the force needs his help about a death, and Bishop ends up back in the town where he grew up. Then his friend disappears and he finds himself Chief. The book is mostly an episodic tale of his six months on the job, with occasional digressions into the past (or even the future. It goes down smoothly as all of Sallis’s writing does. Nothing exciting, but it was nice to have one last goodbye.
FIGHTING EDGE is Margaret Mizushima’s latest about Mattie Walker and her K-9 Robo in Colorado. Jackie read this first. She said Lesa said it was her favorite in the series. (I don’t remember if that was true. ) I read 30% of it yesterday and should finish it quickly. I can’t say I love the drugs/trafficking storyline, but she does a nice job, and Robo is heroic as always. So far, it’s mostly all business with little family time.
Jackie is reading a Darynda Jones Charley Davidson book.
Saturday is our Anniversary, by the way. The years really add up, if you’re lucky enough.
Happy Anniversary, Jeff, to you and Jackie. I’m glad you’re feeling better and Jackie is on her way.
I was lucky enough to see James Sallis once perform with Three-Legged Dog. Sort of like seeing Rock Bottom Remainders. I saw him at The Poisoned Pen. Poisoned Pen Press was the first publisher for Drive.
Happy Anniversary! Any special plans? If you’re both well enough that is.
Lindy, sorry I missed your question. No special plans for our Anniversary other than eating out at our favorite restaurant, though we will probably wait until sometime during the next week.
That sounds perfect Jeff.
I love going out for a meal – especially breakfast. We have three restaurants we like and alternate between them weekly for breakfast.
Enjoy your trip to the Garfield House in Mentor, Lesa. Growing up in Willowick, I went for a school trip but have not been back since. You have beautiful weather for the drive.
Three books for me this week. It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder by Ally Carter was great fun, but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as her first Christmas book. The plot of this one involves a billionaire’s grandson and the housekeeper’s daughter trying to figure out who shot him at the reading of the will.
My second book was Five by Ilona Bannister. I really liked the way the story was told in a kind of “you are there” voice. In the long run, I didn’t care for it very much. Like the author said, the person killed wasn’t the person I had hoped it would be and honestly, most of the characters weren’t very likeable. I did appreciate her giving a follow up on the four remaining survivors. The person(s) I felt most empathy with were the poor train drivers.
My last book was like reading a Hallmark film. It was cute but ending up just being so-so. Beth wound up pregnant at age 17 after a school trip to France. She and her daughter, Maisie had a good life with Beth working as a palliative care nurse. Attending one of patients, she meets with one of her old classmates where they discuss their future me letters, they wrote while still in school. This leads Beth on a journey of self-discovery to finding out what she wants for the rest of her life.
Safe travels, Lesa and Happy Reading!
I forgot to mention the title of my last book. It was The Life I Didn’t Plan by Charlottle Butterfield. Sorry.
We had a great day, Sharon. We enjoyed the Garfield home, lunch, and then went to Lakeview Cemetery. Beautiful day for it!
I’m glad the first book was good because it didn’t sound as if the other ones were that great.
Heading home tomorrow.
Morning, all!
what I read and enjoyed –
Heart of the Wild by Patti Callahan Henry
Description
“A crackling read where every page leaves you holding your breath for what’s next.” —Kathryn Stockett, #1 New York Times bestselling author
New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan Henry’s riveting new novel takes the reader deep into the woods where a lost teenage girl’s fight for survival, and her mother’s desperate search, collide with a town secret and forever transform a family.
It’s the summer of 1972 and hope feels increasingly fragile for Jenny McKinney. With her husband missing in action in Vietnam, she seeks escape as much as stability and accepts a teaching job in the remote mountain town of Silverveil, North Carolina.
Her fifteen year old daughter, Emma, sensitive and intelligent, senses her mother has other reasons for their move to the mountains. Before she can press for answers, Emma is sent away to a youth group retreat with only her father’s worn copy of The Call of the Wild for comfort.
On the last day of the retreat, Emma strays from the trail and becomes hopelessly lost. With no clear path back to camp, she relies on instinct, animal signs, and the vast, unyielding wild for guidance.
As days go by and exhaustion, hunger, and fear begin to hollow her out, Emma’s fate feels uncertain. But she is not alone. Deep in the woods, another teenage girl is keeping watch—resourceful and determined to remain unseen. As they move through the same wilderness, their stories begin to collide, forcing them to discover their strength.
Aching and gritty, Heart of the Wild is an atmospheric journey about love and loss, abandonment and belonging, and small-town secrets whose roots run much deeper than just the forest floor.
Heart of the Wild sounds so much like you, Kaye, like a book that I would think of as a “Kaye” book. And, of course, Barbara Kingsolver.
I just this second finished PARTITA by Barbara Kingsolver and needef o come tell you about it.
i have loved her work forever, this was no exception.
“Kingsolver’s magnificent Partita sings in the key of passion, yearning, and loss.” — The Boston Globe
“A lush and wrenching narrative about the paths not taken, the ingenuity of music and human decency.” — New York Times (“Ten New Books We Recommend This Week”)
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Demon Copperhead, a story of a brief, passionate, life-changing love affair, wrapped up in what might be the greatest romance of all: our eternal human longing for art and beauty.
Livia Cable has made her peace with her marriage and modest livelihood in the farm country where she grew up, until a shocking phone call from an old lover shakes her to the core. Decades earlier, this man knew her as Livia Bohusz, a music conservatory student estranged from her home and family, uncertain of anything except her passion for music and promise as an extraordinary pianist. His request, now, to see her again stirs up ghosts she’s kept at bay for a lifetime.
Shifting between past and present, Livia’s decision to meet or reject the reunion means confronting step by step, in memories framed as musical dances, the experiences of childhood loss, abandonment, self-immolating passion, and perilous attachment to a man who broke her belief in love and ruptured the course of her life.
With razor-sharp acuity and deep affection, Kingsolver’s unforgettable new novel reflects on class barriers, the risks of ambition, and the timeless, life-changing power of art.
Hi Lesa,
I’m currently reading The Family Cross by James Patterson and listening to Home for the Homicides by Elle Cosimano & Hannah Morrissey. Enjoy your trip!
I have a copy of Home for the Homicides, Katherine. I hope we both like it.
Thank you! It was a fun trip!
We’re getting some much needed rain here.
Lesa, I’ve read Toldedo might be a good city to stay away from, as there’s this mystery chemical spill making people sick.
This week I read:
Death Match by Lincoln Child; A revolutionary dating service has some of their most successful customers commit suicide. It’s a long way from Tinder.
Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron; There are those who say Byron was the world’s first rock star, and they seem to be correct in all the bad ways. At least there are no pictures of him meeting with Thomas Jefferson or something.
Cold Fire by Clive Cussler; NUMA gets on the case when a plane carrying a top secret laser is hijacked and disappears. China and Russia are also looking for it. I thought the setting was great. NUMA Files books are getting less derivative, in a realtive sense.
A Deadly Hook by Karen A Phillips; This is the third book in the series. I read this one before the second because it has bigfoot stuff. Rocky, our sleuth is out camping with her sister, who has a new loser boyfriend obsessed with Bigfoot. There’s a murder out in the woods, and Rocky investigates, and finds there’s a whole lot more folks living out there than one would think.
Quarry’s Reunion by Max Allan Collins; The hitman doesn’t kill a lot of people in this one, but it’s still pretty good, as Quarry returns to his old hometown in Ohio because someone is trying to kill his high school flame’s daughter. Big mistake.
Thanks, Glen. I just looked up the chemical leak in Toledo. Mom lives about 60 miles east of Toledo, and we were heading east of Cleveland today, which was another 75 miles even further east. Heading home to the Columbus area tomorrow.
I find it interesting how much you appreciate Bigfoot stories. It sounds as if you had a good reading week.
I know this is late, but a whole lot has happened. My husband fell off a small ladder in the apartment on Monday morning. I called and got an ambulance. He had surgery on his fractured hip on Tuesday. Today, he had a PT assessment, and they want to send him to Rehab for his shoulder fracture. I cannot drive due to glaucoma, so I have been changing all my appointments and have ordered groceries and my medicine to be delivered. I am tired!
Oh my goodness Carol! Hoping your husband is on the mend and things get better soon.
That is a lot, Carol! I hope he heals quickly and that everything goes smoothly.
Well, that’s awful, Carol. I hope he heals fast. I broke my shoulder after a fall 8 years ago, but I was lucky. I was able to get by with just PT and no surgery. I couldn’t drive for a month or so, and my wife doesn’t drive. Good thing we were able to use the bus and subway.
Oh, Carol! I’m so sorry for you and your husband. He must have really hit that side when he fell. And, I’m glad you’re taking care of yourself, and getting things done. I’m sorry.
Ladders are dangerous. Hope things turn out okay.
How upsetting for both of you Carol! He must be in a lot of physical pain right now. I feel for you both.
Hi, everyone! I am in one of those phases where I seem to always be busy. I had a meeting in North Carolina earlier this week. The retreat center was near the ocean and we had some beautiful days.
I have a couple of really good witchy books to share. The first is “A Resistance of Witches,” a compelling story about the bonds of sisterhood and what we owe each other and the world. Should the witches of Britain join the effort to defeat the Nazis? They have kept their academy secret for hundreds of years, a necessity in a country that has burned witches in the past. Recent graduate Lydia Polk is appalled by Hitler and joins the effort to keep a book of potentially world-ending war spells out of his hands. She interacts with the French resistance, Nazi witches, Winston Churchill, and a black American art curator in a story that has the scope and feel of WWII while adding a supernatural element.
I think I’ve mentioned “Portrait of a Witch Undone” before. It ties together a book of powerful spells, the heist at the Gardner Museum, and the landscape of the marshes near Boston in a powerful way.
The site of your retreat sounds beautiful, Trisha. I hope it was a good getaway.
It’s the perfect season for witches. I hope you’re enjoying the books!
Lesa, I hope you had a good visit to the James A. Garfield National Historic Site today. Glen visited the Garfield Memorial when he still lived in Ohio. He likes cemeteries and he was impressed with it.
We were out shopping in the morning (and taking our ballots to a ballot drop box) and then we went to lunch. We got a lot of rain on Wednesday and then some more this morning and more right now. It is very welcome.
Glen is still reading THE HOUNDING by Xenobe Purvis and he is still enjoying it.
I just read FIND A VICTIM by Ross Macdonald. It is the fifth book in the Lew Archer series and the fifth book by that author that I have read. My goal is to read all of the books in the series but there are 13 more after this book so we will see. Ross Macdonald, AKA Kenneth Millar and husband of Margaret Millar, lived for decades in the Santa Barbara area. There are always references to various places or events in California, so I enjoy that, in addition to the mystery plots.
Now I am reading THE GOOD THIEF’S GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM by Chris Ewan, the first in a series of 5 books, first published in 2007. The main character is a thief, who also writes mysteries about a thief. He is British, but all the books in the series seem to be set in other places (Paris, Vegas). The story is humorous and I am enjoying the story and how it is told (1st person narrative).
We had a very enjoyable visit today, Tracy. We went to the home, and then to Lakeview Cemetery, saw the memorial, and the Wade Chapel with Tiffany glass. Just beauitful.
I’ve never read The Thief’s Guides. I always wondered about them. I’m glad you’re enjoying them.
Tracy, I remember reading The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam and liking it. Now I don’t know why I didn’t read another in the series. I shall have to remedy that.