What a great book month! I read 7 books and there isn't a bad one in the bunch. My biggest surprise for the month was James by Percivil Everett. It was so outrageously hyped last year that it kind of turned me off and I returned it to the library twice before I finally broke down and read it. I'm glad I did.

What is your favorite book that you read in March?
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Devil's Kitchen
by Candice Fox, Read by Kirsten Potter

TLDR: Fast paced mystery about a corrupt firefighting unit in NYC.

Andy Nearland has joined a fire fighting unit in NYC. This unit is a close-knit group of men and she's the first woman to join the unit. They are also corrupt and they aren't aware that she's an undercover operative.

I have read Fox's Crimson Lake series and liked it a lot. I'm honestly a little tired of the unrealistic tough, but sexy, female heroine trope, but, even with from that, it was a fun read.
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We All Live Here
By Jojo Moyes, Read By Jenna Coleman

TLDR: Really good women's fiction about life challenges and creating family.

Lila Kennedy is a little busy. She's a writer in the middle of writer's block that probably has something to do with her recent divorce, the loss of her mother and her step-father moving in. She's trying to raise her two daughters who have their own issues with school and dealing with their father and his new wife.  Things get even weirder when her biological father suddenly arrives in her life after years away. Everything is complicated.

This is a story about finding home and family. The characters are very well developed and each one is dealing with his/her own challenges. I enjoyed my ride with this family. If you like this genre, you will like all of her books.

The Thread Collectors
By Shaunna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman

TLDR:  Historical fiction focused on a slave couple from the South and a Jewish couple from the North. The war brings them together.

It's 1863. Stella, a slave in New Orleans, tolerates her master. While he's away she stitches maps to help other slaves escape. She's in love with a black soldier named William but they must keep their illegal relationship secret.

In New York City, Lily, a Jewish wife makes quilts and rolls bandages to support the war effort while her husband is away fighting. After not hearing from him for 2 months, she sets off for Louisiana to find him. Music eventually brings Lily and Stella together.

I love the characters in this book and I got totally invested in their stories. If you like historical fiction, I recommend this one for you.

James
By Percival Everett, Read By Dominic Hoffman

TLDR: An excellent retelling of Huckleberry Finn from Jim's POV

I have not read Huckleberry Finn but may get to it before the end of the month. (Edit: I did read it as you will see later.) This is a very loose re-telling of Twain's novel from Jim's point of view. This book was all the rage last year and I avoided reading it because of the hype. I eventually gave in and I'm glad I did.

Not knowing Huckleberry Finn, I had no preconceived ideas about this book. It was a completely new story for me. Jim escapes from his enslavement when he hears that he's being sold away from his wife and daughter. At the same time Huck has run away from his brutal father. Huck, a white boy, has always felt close to Jim and, after them meet up in the woods, they are comfortable traveling together. But they are both being hunted and just are trying to get down the Ohio river to freedom.

The writing and character development is wonderful. I am sure that it will appeal to people with modern sensibilities who can't stomach Twain's original narrative. There is quite a twist on the slave story.
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Queen Hereafter
By Isabelle Schuler, Read By Sara Vickers

TLDR: Even non-Shakespeare fans will enjoy this reimagining of the origin story of Lady MacBeth.

I didn't realize until I was about halfway through that this book is the imaginative origin story of Lady MacBethad (MacBeth to the English). Grouch descends from ancient Druids and is the daughter of a a king who lost his lands. We are introduced to her at a very young age shortly before she is told by her Druid Grandmother that she will someday be Queen.

What follows is the warring and intrigue of Scotland in the 11th Century. The writing is so good and the characters so well developed that I was 100% invested in Grouch and her life.

People who like historical fiction and epic-like novels will love this one.

The Frozen River
By Ariel Lawhon, Read By Jane Oppenheimer

TLDR: If you love historical fiction, don't miss this one.

Martha Ballard was a midwife and healer. She is known because she kept a detailed diary of her life from the age of 50 until her death. She delivered over 800 babies and never lost a mother. Her diary also chronicles crimes that happened in her community. The book is not true history but is fiction based closely on her diary entries, specifically a rape allegation in the community.

The story opens in 1789 and is set on the Kennebec River in Maine. The river was frozen when a man was discovered under the ice. Martha is asked to come examine the body to determine cause of death. She deems it a murder but a new physician, freshly graduated from Harvard, declares it an accident.

Many months before she had recorded the details of an alleged rape of one of her patients. The story covers the months when the trial is set to take place but also jumps back in time periodically to tell Martha's life story and other background for the current events.

​At the end of the book the author has an entry to explain the deviations from the diary entries and how she built the story. It was a great read.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
By Mark Twain, Read By Tom Porter

TLDR: There's a reason that Mark Twain is considered the premier American novelist. If you can get by the language and stereotypes of the time, it's a delightful adventure story.

This was published in 1884 and is set in 1840 so you have to go in accepting that slavery was a reality at that time. If your modern sensibilities can handle that, it's a wonderful read. There were several times that I laughed out loud. I know that it was read often in school when I was growing up but I don't remember having to read it in my school in Bassett, VA. I expect that no schools require it for reading now and I wouldn't be surprised if the book isn't even available in school libraries now. That would be a shame because it's a great piece of literature. I admit that if not for James, I would have never read Huck Finn. I'm glad I read both.

I feel like saying "Im back!". The last few months have been a little short of reading but I caught up this month. Having a vacation in the month was quite helpful at giving me extra reading time. My mystery favorite of the month was probably Locked In and my non-fiction favorite was definitely Love and Hate in Jamestown. The Last One At The Wedding is the only book that I really didn't care for....but not enough to not finish it.

What book recommendations do you have this month!

Homing
By Jon Day

TLDR: All about raising racing pigeons plus a lot of reflections on the concept of home.

I picked up this paperback at a thrift store to bring on vacation to read. I don't have any particular interest in pigeons. Truth be told, I find them annoying and nasty in city centers. But I'm always interested in someone else's quirky hobby and that's why I picked it up.

Jon Day grew up around people who raised and raced pigeons but didn't get into it himself until after he married and settled. There are two distinct parts of the book. One is his story of setting up his lofts and acquiring, racing and breeding his pigeons. The other part is various historical reference that are reflections on the concept of home. The narrative moves back and forth between the two. 

I'd say that the book is a gentle read but that, also, it's not going to be all that interesting to other people. After I finished it I offered it to the 3 other people staying with me and all declined.
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Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone
By benjamin Stevenson, Read By Barton Welch

TLDR: A witty mystery with the main character narrating how he's writing the book.

Chris and I listened to this on our drive out West.  Ernest Cunningham is on his way to a ski resort for a family reunion that he doesn't want to attend. The Cunningham family has a sordid past littered with several murders and the killings aren't over. While telling the story Ernest (Ern) is also telling us about the mystery writing process. He even identifies up front which chapters contain murders.

It's full of sarcasm and the story twists all over the place. I did not see the end coming but I did have a little trouble keeping track of all the characters. That could be because I kept getting distracted on the drive. But if you are looking for a really different type of mystery, you might like this one.

The Collected Regrets of Clover
By Mikki Brammer, Read By Jennifer Pickens

TLDR: A sweet novel about grieving and regrets.

​Clover lost her parents when she was young and she grew up with her grandfather. After he dies, she becomes a death doula. She had dedicated her life to helping people pass peacefully through their last days. Meanwhile, she has forgotten to tend to her own life. She keeps a journal collection of the regrets of her patients but needs to examine her own regrets.

Eventually she is hired as a doula for a woman who send Clover on a trip to find a lost love. The process, along with the kindling of new friendships, makes her examine her own life.

I listened to this on vacation. A book about death doesn't seem like such a good vacation book but, strangely, it didn't seem like a book about death. I found myself rooting for Clover to break out of her shell and find her own life. 

All The Devils Are Here
By Mark Dawson, Read By Simon Vance

TLDR: #4 in Atticus Priest series. Best read in order to get to know the character back stories.

Atticus Priest is hired by an obnoxious client to find dirt on his ex-wife. She goes missing during the investigation. Eventually it's discovered that the missing woman is connected to a reported missing man.

The missing man is part of a group of 5 friends who have a secret that goes back many years. Chris and I listened to it on the way home and it was fast paced and kept us entertained. There was a part that involved a UK version of a SWAT team that was seriously ridiculous, but novels get that liberty. I like this series but, I have to say, that this is my least favorite of the 4 books.

The Last One at the Wedding
By Jason Rekulak, Read By John Pirhalla

TLDR: A book full of unlikable characters.

I did not like this book but I did finish it. Frank Szatowski has been estranged from his daughter, Maggie, for 3 years so he's surprised when she calls him to invite him to her wedding. Frank and his sister, Maggie's aunt, are invited to attend her wedding to a very wealthy man at the family "camp" in New Hampshire. Maggie helped raise 

This is the same camp where a local woman disappeared several years earlier and there are many mysterious activities throughout the weekend. The aunt is happy to be oblivious to everything happening around her and happy to ignore some behaviors from Maggie's past. Frank reminds me of the old TV detective Columbo in an annoying way. On the one hand he was trying to rekindle a relationship with his daughter, on the other he was snooping around the camp in place where he shouldn't be. Occasionally he shows some intelligence, like Columbo. 

Maggie is unlikable, her fiance and the family are all unlikable, Frank and his sister are unlikable and the little girl they are fostering isn't really adorable either. The ending was quite unsatisfactory. Many things were left unexplained.

​I don't recommend it.

Love and Hate in Jamestown
By David A Price

TLDR: This book is a real gem for American history lovers.

I picked up this book at a thrift store for $2 and it's the best $2 I've spent in a long time. As a Virginian, I was presented with a lot of Virginia history in my school years. Honestly, I don't remember much of it and I certainly don't really remember my lessons on Jamestown. 

This book is a comprehensive and unvarnished story of the founding of Jamestown and establishment of the early Virginia colony. It's an amazing story of survival in the most rugged of times by people wholly unprepared for the challenges. It's not terribly long and very readable for people who aren't obsessive non-fiction readers. I only live about an hour and half from Jamestown and will be making a trip there very soon.

As I was looking back at my reading log, I saw that I read another of Price's books over 10 year ago, The Pixar Touch is about the founding and evolution of the Pixar company and it was very interesting also.

Locked In
By Jussi Adler-Olsen, read By Steven Pacey

TLDR: This is #10 in a great detective series set in Denmark.

Carl Morck is the head of Department Q, a special investigative unit focusing on cold cases. A 15 year old case has come back to haunt him and he's been arrested and kept in Vestra prison without bail. He's being framed and soon learns that there's a price on his head.

The Copenhagen Police Department is not helping him, only his loyal co-workers from Department Q believe/know that he's innocent and are trying to help. Even they are being thwarted by the senior management in the police department. Rose, Assad and Gordon ignore orders and dedicate themselves to solving this case. The downside of this one is that it's set during the pandemic and the pandemic elements don't age well. In this book it doesn't take away from the story much, instead it's used as a tool for some of the activities.

I love this whole series. This one is #10 and, based on the ending, I believe it's the last in the series. It was a fitting ending. I absolutely love the characters, especially Rose and Assad. If you decided to give this a try, they really need to be read in order.

There Are Rivers In The Sky
By Elif Shafak, Read By Olivia Vinall

TLDR: Part historical fiction about the Epic of Gilgamesh and part an exploration of the theory of water memory.

This book is told through three main characters in different time periods: 1840, 2014 and 2018. The foundation of the story is the ancient city of Nineveh, the library of King Ashurbanipal where the earliest version of the Epic of Gilgamesh was excavated from the ruins. This text has the earliest mention of a great flood. 

In 1840, Arthur is a poor boy with a genius mind. He is able to build a career as a printer and he becomes obsessed with cuneiform tablets at the British Museum. He is able to eventually translate them and some of them contain elements of the Epic. His character seems to be based on a real person at the British Museum.

In 2014, a Yazidi girl named Narin is losing her sight. Her grandmother is determined to take her to be baptized at a sacred Iraqi temple near the Tigris. This is the time of the ISIS uprising and the slaughter of thousands of Yazidi people. 

In 2018, Zaleekah is just separated from her husband and has moved to a houseboat in the Thames. She's a hydrologist in London. She had been orphaned and raised by her very wealthy uncle. One day she happens on a book about her heritage homeland, Nineveh.

Their stories are told interlaced with the movement of a single drop of water. The water memory theory is ridiculous, of course, but it is something that has been studied and it adds a poetic element to the story. It's well written and the characters are richly developed. 

January has been a light reading month and that's OK because it was a fun travel month! I also had 10 sick days and only finished one book during that time. Mostly I watched trash TV.

I only finished 4 books. Three were good enough and one, Yours Truly, wasn't good enough to recommend.

What good books have you read this month?

DNF:
Fresh Water For Flowers by Valerie Perrin - This is supposed to be a great book but I couldn't get into it. It might have been because I was not feeling well and distracted by travel. Maybe I'll give it another try later.

The Sweet Blue Distance
By Sara Donati, Read By Kate Reading

TLDR: A sweeping saga installment in the Into The Wilderness series.

In 1857 Carrie Ballentine takes an offer to move to New Mexico Territory to be a nurse and midwife. She needed to get away from her family and past and this was a great opportunity. Her brother travels with her and about half of the book covers the challenging trip. 

Once she arrives in New Mexico, she discovers that the doctor has not been totally honest with her about her work or his family. It's an adventure story of the time and it's a love story as Carrie builds her new life in New Mexico. If you like westerns and/or family sagas, I think you will like this one.

The Silent Sisters
By Robert Dugoni, Read By Eduardo Ballerini

TLDR: the 3rd installment in a fast paced international espionage series.
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This is the 3rd book in the Charles Jenkins series. This was our road-trip-to-Denver book.

There were "seven sisters" in Russia. These were female US assets working deep in the Russian government. In the last installment Jenkins barely made it out of Russia trying to bring out some of the assets. Just when he's getting settled back with his family, he's asked to return for the last 2 of the seven sisters. 

On his first night in Moscow he accidentally gets involved in an altercations outside of a bar. That results in the dealt of the son of the head of a brutal organized crime group. Now he's being chased by the police, the mafia and Russian agents. 

Like all of the Dugoni books, it's very fast paced. I did have a little trouble keeping up with the Russian names but it was worth the ride.

Yours Truly
By Abby Jimenez, Read By Kyla Garcia and Zachary Webber

TLDR: If you like the fake dating trope you might like this. I didn't like anything about it.

Brianna and Jacob are ER doctors with the emotional maturity of teenagers. These people are in their 30s and have more baggage and anxiety than a 13 year old. 

Brianna is newly divorced and Jacob's girlfriend broke up with him and is marrying his brother. Brianna's brother needs a kidney transplant quickly. They meet when Jacob starts working in the same ER as Brianna. They meet in a broom closet where both go to hide from the stress of work. This is my first problem with the book. Neither of these people would last a day in an ER department. That whole setting was stupid.

Jacob is trying to get through all the ex-girlfriend/brother wedding activities with his outrageously multi-cultural and woke family. Brianna agrees to fake date him to help him through. It's a giant cliche from beginning to end. 

I read a previous book from Jiminez, Just For the Summer, and it was sweet. I thought this one would be a nice, easy read while I was sick. Instead, it was outrageously annoying.

The Wide Wide Sea
By Hampton Sides, Read By Peter Noble

TLDR: This one is for true history lovers.

This is the book that Chris and I picked for our trip from Richmond to Tucson. It's a long one at 15 and got us through 3 days.  It's the story of Captain James Cook's final voyage to search for a Northwest passage.

The book is really interesting and it was all new information for me. I don't know if I ever learned much about Captain Cook. I did think it could have been edited a bit but all-in-all it was very interesting. The narrator has some really interesting mispronounciations.

December was a stellar reading month and ended the year on a very positive note. As I end the month I'm in the middle of a long  book that is also wonderful. It will be my first review of the new year.

​As I look through the 6 books that I read this month, there are no duds! I really can't even pick a favorite.

I read 84 books in 2024. That's down from previous years due to my diversions in Youtube and Podcasts but I'm quite happy with 84. I decided to look over my list and identify my favorites.
The book that really stuck with me the most was The Women by Kristen Hannah. It is a perfect historical fiction book that tells the story of the women who served in Vietnam. 

In no particular order, these are the other books that I rated the highest for 2024:

The Wedding People by Allison Espatch
Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese
Vanished Arizona by Martha Summerhayes (paperback)
Listen For the Lie by Amy Tintera
A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales
The Friar and the Cipher by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone (hardback)
The Falcon Thief by Joshua Hammer
The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
Starter Villian by John Scalizi
West With Giraffes by  Lynda Rutledge
The Mysterious Case of Rudplf Diesel by Douglas Brunt
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley
The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr

This is a list of books by my favorite mystery authors:
Spirit Crossing by William Kent Krueger (part of the Cork O'Connor Series)
Resurrection Walk by  Michael Connelly (Mickey Haller series)
Three-Inch Teeth by C.J. Box (Joe Pickett series)
The Price You Pay by Nick Petrie (Peter Ash series)
Last Words by Michael Koryta
A Place To Bury Strangers by Mark Dawson

What have you read lately that you would recommend and what was your favorite book of 2024?

The Wedding People
By Alison Espach, Read By Helen laser

TLDR: Clever and funny story about very human events.

Phoebe Stone's life has fallen apart. She is unable to get pregnant, her husband left her for a woman with a baby and she can't finish the book she'd been writing for years. She's ready to give up and travels to a resort hotel in Rhode Island to kill herself. Except that she's the only guest at the hotel who isn't there for a 6-day luxury wedding celebration. In the elevator she tells the bride the purpose of her trip and the bride is determined not to let this crazy woman ruin her wedding.

It deals with some very serious subjects but in a funny, sad, thoughtful and heartwarming way. It's not sappy at all. I loved that the ending was more of a beginning for many of the characters. I really enjoyed this one.

We Begin at the End
By Chris Whitaker, Read By George Newbern

TLDR: A really good story about finding family through tragedy. Told a little disjointed but worth it.

Duchess Radley is the protector for ner little brother. She has a very unstable life with a mother, Star, who can barely care for herself. 

Star grew up with Walk, now the sheriff and Vincent. Vincent is about to get out of jail after 30 years and there's going to be some trouble when he returns to town. It's a book about finding family. 

I read his book, All the Colors of the Dark, in August and enjoyed it too. I think his stories are really fresh but the telling can be a bit disjointed. I almost gave up on this one because I had trouble keeping track of the characters but I'm glad I stuck with it.

The God of the Woods
By Liz Moore, Read By Saskia Maarlevard

TLDR: Imagine your summer camp's horror stories were real. Good story with a few too many characters.

This book is on a LOT of "best of" lists for 2024. It is set in 1961 and 1975 at a camp in the Adirondacks in Upstate New York. Camp Emerson is owned by the very wealthy, and unlikable, Van Laar family. 

In 1961, the prodigal son, Bear, disappeared from camp and he's never been found. The investigation was run by the family and closed quickly. A person was identified as the culprit and sent to prison but the boy's body was never found. 

Fourteen years later, Barbara, Bear's sister asks to attend the summer camp. Every night she disappears from her cabin. Her cabin-mate thinks she is meeting up with a boy since everyone knows that she is seeing a town boy. The camp counselors don't know she's leaving every night. One night she doesn't return and the counselors find an empty bed in the morning. This time the investigation is run by local detectives.

There are layers and layers of mystery in this book. The plot and the ending are creative and interesting. My two complaints are that there are too many characters and the time changes (1961 to 1975 and back) aren't easily transitioned in the audio version. The first couple of hours brought me a lot of confusion but I'm glad I stuck with it. 

This Motherless Land
By Nikki May
Read By Weruche Opia and Florence Howard

TLDR: A wonderful and creative retelling of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.

Funke has a very happy life in Nigeria. Her mother is an art teacher and her father is a professor and she has a younger brother. Her mother is English and her father is Nigerian and they've made a very happy life together. But when her mother dies in an accident she is sent to England to live with her maternal Aunt. She's never been there and only knows it through her mother's stories.

In England she finds an unreceptive Aunt but a loving cousin, Liv. Liv takes on the role of protector for her little cousin and they grow into young adults as the best of friends. Then a second tragedy happens and their friendship is damaged forever. Funke moves back to Nigeria to try to rebuild her life but both women miss the connection that they had.

While it does deal with race a little, it's mostly about friendship, family and betrayal. The characters are rich and the narration is outstanding.

The Book on the Bookshelf
By Henry Petroski

TLDR: Nerdiest book ever about the storage and display of books.

I picked up this book at a thrift store and it's been my bedtime reading for a few weeks. If you are into books and libraries you will have a total geekfest reading this book.

It started with the development of the written word on papyrus and how rolls were stored. Once books were bound they were exceedingly valuable and chained to tables with iron chains. There are illustrations throughout the book that help to visualize what's being described.

The book also covers the design of libraries from the time of no artificial light  to today, when libraries struggle with too many books for the space available. It's a total geekfest that will likely bore most people but I thought it was a very interesting read.

City of Flickering Light
By Juliette Fay, Read By Lisa Flanagan

TLDR: A nice historical fiction about the silent film industry

This book was from the free Audible library and was a nice book to read during the holidays. It's set in 1921 during the birth of Hollywood when they started making the "flickers". Irene Van Beck, Millie Martin and Henry Weiss leave the seedy Burlesque industry to head to Hollywood to try to make it in the new silent film industry.

They are young people searching for fame, fortune, love and family. The characters are very likable and while it portrays the challenges and dark sides of Hollywood, it does it in a gentle way. It is based on some real people and seems to be very well researched in the portrayal of Hollywood of the time. I enjoyed it and got attached to the characters.

Well, this is a first! I only finished 3 books this month. There are 2 main reasons. First, I wasted a week trying to force myself to finish Martyr!  Then I spent a week being a political junkie. I like politics as a spectator sport so I tend to spent a lot of time watching how all sides react after an election and this year provided much entertainment for me. I don't let politics affect me emotionally so I can watch it in the same way I watched the Dallas Giants game Thursday.....except that the game was pretty bad.

Anyway, that's my excuse for only finishing 3 books. But all three books are ones that I'd recommend. I especially enjoyed Hester. 

What good books have you read? I'm expecting December to be a better book month. I'll have a lot of free time for listening as I work on all the projects I want finished by the end of the year.

DNF
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar - I wasn't sure I'd like this but it was on a LOT of recommended reading lists. It was like wandering around with an alcoholic looking for the meaning of life. I couldn't take it.

I Hope You Find Tins Well
By Natalie Sue, Read By Nasim Pedrad

TLDR: Everyone in the office is hiding something.

Jolene is the quiet and antisocial person in the office and she knows that everyone hates her. She can barely get through a day with memories from her past always haunting her. One day IT makes a mistake working on her computer and she now has access to everyone's email boxes and phone logs. She knows that layoffs are coming and she thinks this access may help to save her job.

Overall, it's a good story. It's not as comedic as the publisher's summary proposes but it's a good story to remind you that everyone is carrying around some sort of baggage. I'm glad I've been away from the office environment for a while!

Next Year in Havana
By Chanel Cleeton, Read By Kyla Garcia and Frankie Maria Corzo

TLDR: Good chick lit with a little Cuba history lesson.
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This is book #1 in the Cuba series. 

Marisol's beloved grandmother has died and her grandmother left instructions for Marisol to take her ashes back to Cuba for burial. Marisol  makes the trip and learns the whole story about her grandmother's family;s escape from Cuba in 1958. 

The story is told between Elisa's story in 1958 and Marisol's story in 2017. Elise's story unfolds as Marisol uncovers her secrets during the 2017 visit. As a chick lit love story it was good enough. It's the rich Cuban history that makes it a very interesting read. 

Hester
By Laurie Lico Albanese, Read By Saskia Maarleveld

TLDR: Great imagining of the inspiration for The Scarlet Letter

I loved this book! It showed up on several recommended lists and I'm glad I bit on it.
This story imagines the inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Isobel Gambel is a very talented seamstress with a hidden "talent". She has synesthesia, a condition where senses have crossover. Words or sounds might have colors, sounds might be felt or feeling something happening to someone else. Isobel sees color in letters and sounds. She and her new husband leave Scotland for Salem, MA and, during the journey, she learns that her apothecary husband is using a little too much of his own medicine. 

While her husband is out to sea searching out medicines to open his own apothecary shop. While away, she uses her extraordinary needlework skills to try to support herself. Eventually she meets Nathaniel Hawthorne and you can guess what happens next. 

I spend entirely too much time on YouTube watching chateau renovations, crochet videos and such. That has taken some of my reading time but I still managed to finish 6 books this month and made it part way through 2 more. This month I've added a TLDR feature. Every time I write a review I seem to have a one sentence review in my head. Now I"m writing them down.

By far, my favorite book of the month was Listen For The Lie. Aside from the DNF books, none of them were bad.

What book recommendations do you have from your reading this month?

DNF:
Guardians of the Valley by Dean King - It's the story of John Muir and after 2 hours I was kind of bored, unfortunately. It might be a narrator problem. I'll probably look for this in paper.
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon - This is a very popular book but, 3 hours in, and I realized I wasn't paying attention​

The Glassmaker
By Tracy Chevalier, Read By Lisa Flannigan

TLDR: Started strong but lost steam as centuries passed.

The story opens in Murano in 1486. Orsolo Rosso is the daughter in a family of glassmakers on the island of Murano. Her father dies in a studio accident and the family struggles to make ends meet. Her brother isn't quite mature enough to run the shop successfully. Orsolo is introduced to the skill of bead making as a way to bring in extra money for the family.

I love glass and I  love history, I was hooked after the first chapter. But then there's this "stone skipping" that happens between chapters. You, the reader are skipping a stone and time moves forward decades. The people of Murano age slower parallel to the universe so that Orsolo is still living during the 2019 pandemic. 

I suppose the purpose was to tell the story of Orsolo and her family, but also tell the whole history of Murano glass. It's was a clever plot tool but I'm no fan of time travel stories. I also felt it got a little slow in the last third. Living for 600 years could possibly become a drag.

Listen For The Lie
By Amy Tintera, Read By January LaVoy and Will Damron

TLDR: Perfect melding of crime podcast into a crime novel with great narration.

One night Lucy was found wandering the streets covered in her best friend's blood. Savvy was found bludgeoned to death in the woods. Lucy doesn't remember anything. 

Everyone thinks Lucy did it but there's not enough evidence to charge her. Lucy's wealthy husband divorces her and Lucy leave her small town in Texas for LA.

Several years later a popular podcast, Listen For The Lie, decides to take up this cold case. Part of the objective is to get Lucy's memory back.

There have been several books lately that integrate a podcast into the story but, in my opinion, none have done it as well as this book. If you decided to give it a try, consider the audiobook because the narration is outstanding. January LaVoy is masterful at doing Lucy and her inner demon that talks to her often.

The Midnight Feast
By Lucy Foley, read by a cast

TLDR: A good story but very much like her previous books

Lucy Foley has a template so if you like a previous book, you will like this one. They are all very similar in setting, storyline and character type. 

Francine grew up in The Manor and has now inherited it. She's reimagined it as a luxury hotel and the book opens at the opening. She has meticulously curated the experience for her guests and planned a Midnight Feast for the Solstice.

​There are secrets on this estate and in the town. Many of those secrets go back to when Francine (Frankie) was a teenager. Unknown to her, old friends and foes are among the guests and staff. 

It moves along quickly and, like all of her books, there's some mysticism, half-told stories, darkness, and a young, arrogant, unlikable protagonist.

First Lie Wins
By Ashley Elston, Read By Saskia Maarleveld

TLDR: One of Charlie's Angels goes rogue in an outrageously complex tale.

This one requires you to pay close attention because there are dozens of twists as the story goes back and forth in time.

Evie Porter has a mystery boss: Mr. Smith and she's just met her new mark, Ryan Sumner. The problem is that Evie actually likes her relationship with Ryan. But Evie's past is super complex, starting with her life of thievery as a teen trying to care for her dying Mom. 

After being caught, she was "saved" by Mr. Smith and started working for him on "special cases". 

This book is really different but also very complex. Every chapter has a twist as it goes between her various jobs and current day. If you are looking for a different kind of mystery, you might like this one.

Hello Beautiful
By Ann Napolitano, Read By Maura Tierney

TLDR: Family saga with a nod to Little Women. Great character development.

William Waters was born as his young sister was dying. His parents never recovered from their grief. He was greatly affected by their neglect. He found solace in basketball. 

When he went to college he met Julia Padavano and, through her family of 4 sisters, he found family. William has never really dealt with and recovered from his childhood neglect. Stresses of life after graduation cause a crisis in his life and in the lives of the Padavano family.

It's a story of family loyalty, love, betrayal and forgiveness. The characters were very well developed and sympathetic.
​

Vanished Arizona
By Martha Summerhayes

TLDR: Very interesting diary of an Army wife in post-Civil War Arizona.

I picked up this book when we were on Tucson last January and just got around to reading it this month. It was fascinating!

Martha Summerhayes was raised in new England and Germany. After the Civil War she returned to America and married an Army officer not having any idea of what her life would be like.

They were immediately stationed in rugged and undeveloped Arizona. The book was put together after they retired from the Army and it's based on the collections of letters that she sent home. It's really fascinating  and very readable. Chris enjoyed it too.

When we visited Biltmore last week, one of the most beautiful rooms was the library. We were told that George Vanderbilt was an avid reader and kept a journal (from the age of 12) of all the books he read and that the total was over 3000. I can't imagine how he read that many books because he didn't have audiobooks! I've kept a log of books I've read since 1996 and the total is 2055. Since I retired in 2010, I average about 110 books a year. I can't imagine how George read that many books in his life because he died at the age of 52.

There's never enough time for all the books!

This month I finished 9 books, which is pretty good given that I had about 10 vacation days in September. I had a record 3 DNF (did not finish) books but I didn't waste too much time with any of them before I called it quits.  Of the books I finished I'd say that Gods and Kings and Spirit Crossing were my favorites. A History of Private Life will be a tough read for 99% of people but I really enjoyed it.

​What good books have you read this month?

DNF 
Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips - I think this is probably a good story but I didn't enjoy the telling of it. I gave it a couple of hours and then gave up.

River Horse by William Least heat-Moon - We met a really interesting guy in a pub in Maine and got to talking about books. He recommended this one so we thought it would be a good car listen for the ride home. It wasn't. It's about a cross country trip by river and it's really dull. 

​All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy - I think this is considered classic western and it received rave reviews. I just didn't hold my attention.
​

The Plinko Bounce 
By Martin Clark, Read by David Aaron Baker and Morgan Hallett

Andy Hughes has been a public defender for 16 years and the job is pretty boring and routine representing the poor souls of his small county. But then in 2020 he's assigned the case of Damien Bullins. Bullins has been charged with the murder of Alicia Benson, the wife of a wealthy businessman. Damien even admitted to the murder.

But a couple of mistakes by the investigators send the case on a different trajectory and Bullins might escape punishment.

I read my first Martin Clark book, The Legal Limit, because it's set in the area where I grew up, Henry and Patrick Counties in Virginia. Both books are legal thrillers and good stories. I'd take a star off of this one only because it has the pandemic theme running through it (social distancing and mask wearing) and, frankly, it doesn't age well. If I were an author that wrote all that into a book, I'd go back and edit it to remove those elements. In this book it's not a burdensome element but it's totally unnecessary to the story. If you happen to be an Audible member and want to try out this author many of his books are free for downloading.

A History of Private Life, Vol I: From pagan Rome to Byzantium, Edited by Philippe Aries and Georges Duby

OK, stick with me for a moment.  I like shopping in second hand bookshops and I tend to buy mostly non-fiction books. I prefer reading history and non-fiction in paper mode.

I picked up this book and another in the series for $2 each at a bookstore a few month ago. I had low expectations but thought I'd give it a try. At the time I didn't realize that this is one of a 5 book series. I bought books 1 and 2. A friend has book 3.

It's a surprisingly interesting book! It's about exactly what the title says: the private lives of citizens. It covers relationships, family structures, housing, spirituality and other aspects of the lives of individuals. I'm looking forward to starting volume II

Spirit Crossing
By William Kent Krueger, Read by David Chandler

This is #20 in the Cork O'Connor series and I think this series benefits from being read in order.

We started our drive home from Maine with the DNFed book mentioned above, River Horse. We quickly switched to this and it carried us until about 15 minutes before we pulled in the driveway.

Young Waaboo, Cork's grandson, stumbles upon a shallow grave while blueberry picking with the family. While there Waaboo speaks with the spirit of the girl. It's thought that she is a missing young Ojibwe woman but the state authorities are only interested in the missing daughter of a prominent politician. Cork works with the Tribal police to investigate the case and they discover that there might be a link to the missing white girl.

Meanwhile, Cork's daughter Annie has returned for her brother Stephen's wedding and has a secret of her own. Stephen and his fiance are involved in a pipeline protest on supposed sacred land. 

It's fast paced and contains a lot of native mysticism.

When We Were Enemies
By Emily Bleeker, Read By Carlotta Brentan and Eva Kaminsky

Had I looked at my reading history spreadsheet I would have seen that I read another Bleeker book and I didn't like it. This one was better but was still a struggle for me to get through. 

The basic storyline is interesting. In modern day, Elise Branson runs a successful PR firm (and should be smarter than her actions will prove). She is engaged and her wedding coincides with a documentary about her celebrity grandmother, Viviam Snow. Elise's wedding preparations, thanks to her narcissistic mothers' meddling, are now part of the documentary and Elise will be married in the chapel on the base where Vivan worked during WII.

The story goes back and forth in time to tell Vivian and Elise's stories with one particularly unbelievable parallel involving priests. 

This book is a lot better than When I'm Gone, which I hated. But I found both Elise and Vivian to be unbelievably naive given their life histories. It was too close to a romance novel for my tastes.

Gods and Kings
By Lynn Austin, Read By Suzanne Toren

​I can't remember where I heard about this book but I know it's been in my library for many months. This is the first book in a 5-book series, Chronicles of the Kings. The series is a retelling of Bible stories about the Kings following the death of King Soloman in 931 BC.

I'll be honest, I don't know the Bible but the reviews say that the stories are true to the writing. Austen has the luxury of making some rather bare bones stories in a rich novel with complex and interesting characters. In this novel, King Azah of Judah has aligned with eh Assyrians and instituted polytheism. His son, Hezekiah, is still a believer in monotheism.  

It's not "religious" in the way you would think. It just a re-telling of a Bible story. It read more like Follet's historical fiction novels. The characters are really well developed and the story kept me interested. At the beginning it was a little challenging to keep track of the unfamiliar names but it didn't take too long to settle in and know all the characters.

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell
By Naida Hashimi, Read By Read By Gin Hammond

TLDR: If you are a woman born in the West, be very grateful.

Kabul 2007: Rahaima and her sisters cannot go to school and there are no boy in the house. Their father is addicted to opium so Rahima must follow the custom of bacha posh that allows her to dress and be treated as a boy until she is mature. 

100 years earlier, her Great-Grandmother Shekiba followed the same custom when she was orphaned.

It's an interesting book but it moves at a bit of a slow pace. The crux of it is that nothing much has changed in Afghanistan in 100 years. It still really sucks to be born a woman there.

You'll Never Find Me
By Allison Brennan, Read By Hillary Huber

This is the first (and, so far, only) book in the Angelhart Investigations series. Margot Angelhart is a private investigator who is estranged from her family PI firm since her father went to jail. She's working a cheating husband case when things take a twist and her brother shows up on one of her scenes. Her case seems to be connected to a case of corporate espionage.

It's an easy listen but has one annoying feature. Almost ever scene includes some sort of background. It might be a story from childhood, a broken love affair, bits about the family rift, or some mundane memory about a house. 

I've looked back in my reading log and I've read Brennan twice before and, it seems, that I'm not really a fan of her work. It definitely has a audience and I'd say it's people who like their mystery books one step beyond a cozy mystery. If you like easy mysteries where nothing is too brutal, this is for you.

The Man in the Brown Suit
By Agatha Christie, Read By Gabrielle deCuir, John Lee

For out trip to Asheville we decided to listen to an Agatha Christie mystery during our ride. It got us to Asheville and within an hour home. It was perfect. You really can't beat Agatha Christie for a good mystery. I've only read one other Christie novel but I really should read more.

In this one, Anne Beddington is recently orphaned  and move to London to live with her late father's solicitor. While waiting for the Tube she witnesses a man fall off the platform onto the rails and dies. A man in a brown suit pretends to be a doctor and declares him dead. The police declare it as an accidental death.

Anne isn't so sure and starts investigating on her own and finds herself involved in a risky situation involving stolen diamonds.

Vacation slowed my reading a little but I still got through some good books. I enjoyed all of the books although we were a bit disappointed in Beyond Measure, a book that let us down a bit as our road-trip book.

I had one DNF book, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. It seems a good book but it's really long and was moving slowly. Then someone noticed that the house we are renting had the DVD of the movie. I watched that instead and gave up on the book. The movie was a little slow too.

Birds in Flight
By Anni Taylor, Read By Harriet Gordon-Anderson

In 1998 Elsa Jorgensen took her two daughters, Iris and Lily, on a trip to Australia. They set off on a long road trip taking along two other girls. One rainy night Elsa and the youngest girl disappear and there isn't a trace of them left behind. After a long search, Iris and Lily return home to Philadelphia. Some years later Iris returns to Australia to live permanently and the two sisters don't talk again.

Twenty-four years after disappearing, Elsa's backpack is discovered and the case is reopened. Lily goes to Australia intending to reunite with her sister and, together, to figure out what happened to their mother.

I enjoyed this mystery book. I liked the character development and there were enough twists to keep me engrossed. 

Beyond Measure
By James Vincent, Read By James Vincent

This is the book Chris and I selected for our road trip to Maine. Sometimes we listen to mysteries but we also like some nerdy topics and this fit that bill. It's mostly about the history of measurement and there's a lot of interesting information in it.

However, it went a bit off the rails with his need to describe how every new type of measurement brought along oppression is some way. Of course, everything has good and bad but methods of measurement truly moved cultures forward and focusing only on the bad effect is tremendously biased. By the end of the book we were tired of it. 

​Good information burdened by personal political views.

Whiskey When We're Dry
By John Larison, Read by Sophie Amoss

This is a clever coming of age Western novel. Jessilyn Harney's mother died in childbirth and she was raised by her father and brother on a struggling homestead. By the time she's 17 in 1885, her father is dead and her brother has left home. She's alone and unable to keep the farm going herself. She disguises herself as a boy and sets off to find her brother, now a well known outlaw.

This is a true old-fashioned Western as Jess transforms herself into a sharp-shooter and in security detail for a governor, all while pretending to be a man. A lot of the reviews share much excitement over the exploration of gender roles but that's not what resonated with me. I think the gender identity storyline was probably true to the era and not, as we usually see in modern writing, an overlay of today's morals on a historical period. Jess did what she did out of necessity and it had a predictable effect on her. That's all. 

The storytelling reminded me of Larry McMurtry. It's not totally of that caliber but it's really good and the narration is perfect for the story.

All The Colors of the Dark
By Chris Whitaker, Read By Edoardo Ballerini

​This book is on a lot of recommended lists and I understand why. It's a very interesting plot approach to several themes: mystery, serial killer, love story. It's got a little of everything.

It opens in 1975 in a small town in Missouri. Girls are going missing. One day the daughter of a wealth family is targeted and a surprising hero emerges. Patch, a young petty thief, thwarts the attack but becomes a victim himself.  

What follows is the story of people affected by the series of missing girls. It follows the characters  through 2010. It's a really unique book in the way that the story is told. The main characters are Patch, his best friend from school, the girl who was rescued and, of course, the killer. Many people are obsessed with solving the murders.

I think that the character development is outstanding and the story jumps forward in time and is told against news headlines of each time. There were some awkward transitions where a scene suddenly ends but isn't explained until a few chapters later. But, aside from that small complaint, it was a good book.
​

A Most Agreeable Murder
By Julia Seales, Read By Fiona Hampton

If Jane Austen wrote a murder mystery it would be this book. After ready the book I looked up the author and found out that she is a Jane Austen fan so that makes sense.

Beatrice Steele will not be the daughter to marry properly and save the family's financial situation. She's not good at following the etiquette of Swampshire and she has an inappropriate fascination with true crime.

On the night of the local ball, Beatrice is pressed to good behavior so that her beautiful sister might make a match with the eligible bachelor, Edward Crookshank. In the middle of the ball, Crookshank drops dead and Beatrice can't help but insert herself in the middle of the investigation.

If you like Jane Austen, you will enjoy this book. It was a quick read for me and I can easily see sequels in the future.

The House of Eve
By Sadeqa Johnson, Read by a cast

This book is set in 1950's Philadelphia and Washington, DC. This book is a really interesting take on racial and economic prejudices of the time. The twist is that, in this case, much of the discrimination takes place WITHIN the African-American community.

Ruby Pearsall is 15 and is the daughter of a single mother who isn't particularly interested in raising her. She's been raised by her grandmother and aunt. She's very smart and has gotten into a great program that will help her get in to college to be the first college graduate in her family. 

Eleanor Quarles arrived in Washington, DC to attend Howard University. Her parents have had hard working lives and scraped and saved to help her get to college. There she meets William Pride and they fall in love. William is almost white and is from one of the wealthiest and most influential families in Washington, DC. His family is not welcoming to Eleanor.

The book centers on relationships (acceptable and unacceptable) and babies (wanted and unwanted). To me, the story was very fresh and I enjoyed it. I loved Eleanor and Ruby as characters and really felt for the trials that they faced.

This wasn't the best month for reading. I spent way too much time on YouTube and I some of my books were just slow to get going. But as I look through my list of 5 books that I finished this month, I can say that I really enjoyed 4 of them.

What good books have you read  this month? I'm looking forward to some good ready for August while we are on vacation. 

DNF - Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo - This is a very interesting story told in an uninteresting way. I know this is one of THE hot books right now but I found my mind wandering throughout the whole thing. I finally gave up.
​

Just For The Summer
By Abby Jimenez, Read by a cast

I picked this up to listen to at the beach knowing it was chick lit. I didn't get to it at the beach so I  listened to it while quilting instead. I was pleasantly surprised by this one! I expected something like Emily Henry but it was much better. It's a cute love story but isn't silly and it deals with some serious issues for the characters.

Emma is a travel nurse. After a life in foster care between short stints with her mother, she find her comfort in living out of 2 suitcases. Her dating life is also transient.

Justin has just posted to a AITA Reddit thread about his most recent breakup. It seems that every girl he dates finds her true love after she breaks up with him. Most recently his latest girlfriend found her true love with his best friend. As revenge he adopted the ugliest dog he could find and named it after his best friend, Brad.

Emma and Justin start chatting through the Reddit thread and eventually agree to date for 6 weeks to break the curse. Of course you know how it ends but there are some really surprising twists along the way. I find Emily Herny books to be kind of silly. This one was much better.

The Wager
By David Grann, Read By Dion Graham

In 1741, a battered English ship washed up on a barren island near Patagonia. The Wager had left England in 1740 on a secret mission related to The War For Jenkin's Ear with Spain. In January of 1742 a ramshackle raft arrived on the coast of Brazil. These were some of the survivors of The Wager. Everyone else was presumed dead. But 6 months after that another pile of floating sticks arrived in Chile with 3 more survivors. The stories of their adventures are wild. How anyone survived is a miracle. 

This book isn't going to appeal to everyone. It's history. It's Naval history. That's a niche. But this is an amazing story that reads like a novel. How anyone survived is a miracle. This book had gotten a lot of press and awards and it's all deserved. I also recommend the audio version because the narrator's voice is perfect.

The Authenticity Project
By Clare Pooley, Read By Anna Cordell

Clare pooley writes charming stories about finding community wherever you are. She creates interesting and sympathetic characters and you root for each one.

Julian is 79 and a mostly retired artist. He believes that people aren't honest with themselves so he starts The Authenticity Project. He writes his own story in a green notebook and leaves it on a local cafe. There it's picked up by the cafe owner, Monica, who adds her own story. Over time the book finds it's way into many hands and the people who share their stories find their way to Monica's Cafe and into each other's lives.

​Very enjoyable.

The Friar and the Cipher
By Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone

This was one of my sit-outside-and-read books, meaning that I read this one in paper. It's an older book and isn't available in audio. I picked it up from Thriftbooks for a few dollars and I'm glad I did.

The book is supposedly about a particular medieval manuscript, today knows as the Voynich manuscript. It's named for the man who rediscovered it in 1912 after hundreds of years hidden in a library. The manuscript is over 200 pages long and it full of drawings of plants, astrological diagrams and naked women doing tasks. It's completely indecipherable  and has been the focus of cryptologists ever since it's discovery. It is generally attributed to Roger Bacon, an astronomer and friar of the 13th Century. Roger Bacon is not related to Sir Francis Bacon, although the book explores parallels in their writings.

Roger Bacon was a contemporary of Thomas Aquinas and much of the book focuses on their contradicting philosophies of scientific enquiry. Amazon reviewer Clay Garner has a much better summary than I can writer:
"most of the writing is covering the contrast between two versions of scientific enquiry. One, drawn from Robert Grosseteste, (who believed the Bible is inspired from God and should be treated with more respect than even Aristotle) the bishop of Lincoln, through Roger Bacon is explained as a mathematical, inductive, empirical, experimental method. The second, drawn from Aristotle through Albert Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, is a deductive, verbal, logical, mental construct."

If you read The Woman Who Smashed Codes about Elizabeth Friedman and her husband, you be interested to know that they made a cameo in this book. They are among the countless people who have worked for decades unsuccessfully to try to decode the manuscript.

​It was an interesting book on a number of levels. For me, it was the explanation of the foundational philosophies and actions that created our modern educational and research systems.

The Book of Lost Names
By Kristin Harmel, Read By Madeline Maby

Eva Adams is an 85-year-old librarian in Florida and sees a photo of a book in a news article that brings back memories of her experiences in WWII. The photo is of The Book of Lost Names.

The book is a ancient religious text that was confiscated by the Nazis during the occupation of France. The book is particularly interesting because it seems to contain a code that no one has been able to break.

Eva has never told her family about her involvement in the resistance during the war and the actions she took to make identity documents to protect Jewish children. This all happened after her father was taken to Auschwitz. She and her mother avoided being picked up and escaped to Southern France where her artistic talents were put to great use.

After seeing the book, she feels she must go to Germany to see the book and explain what it is.

This book is compared to The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah. They are both about women in WWII and, as far as I'm concerned, that's where the similarity ends. This story is a love story told during WWII and out heroine is really crappy at keeping secrets. Also her mother is supremely annoying. Her behavior is unfathomable.  I finished the book but I didn't love it.

June was a month of variety for my book selections. I don't read sci-fi or fantasy but I still covered several genres. I did accidentally read something with a little magic, which annoyed me. Even that book was a good story, I just didn't like the genre. My absolutely favorite book of the month was The Women by Kristen Hannah. My favorite non-fiction was The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel. It's an older book but worth searching for at used book stores. Chris liked it too.

What books do you have to recommend this month?
​

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde
By Tia Williams, Read By Mela Lee and Preston Butler

I should have never read this book. It showed up on a couple of recommended lists so I picked it up without really looking into what it was about. It's really not my genre. First, it's a romance novel and second, it contains magic. That wasn't really clear in the description. It was billed as Historical Fiction, contemporary, African American and heartfelt.

Ricki Wilde is the youngest of 4 daughters in a powerful Atlanta family. She's the artistic free-spirit that doesn't fit into the family. She decides to move to NYC to open a flower shop. She meets a woman named Ms. Della who invites her to live and open her shop in the bottom floor of her brownstone. 

One late night she's walking in a local garden to clear her mind and she meets mysterious stranger who turns her life upside-down. It's basically a modern fairytale.

I actually liked the characters, especially Ms. Della and I liked the historical references to Harlem, especially the music scene. I think if you like books like Outlander you might like this one.​

The Nature Fix
By Florence Williams

This is a paperback book that I read a little on vacation and finished while sunbathing at home.

This was an interesting book that does exactly what the cover says. It explains why and how nature makes us healthier, smarter and happier.

Some of the current research into the impact of nature is really fascinating. There's even benefit from looking at nature on screens. 

​I looked back at my records and I tried listening to this book a couple of years ago and I didn't finish it. Now that's I've read the paper version I can see why this wouldn't translate to audio.

Code Red
By Kyle Mills for Vince Flynn, Read By Steven Weber

This is #22 in the Mitch Rapp series. In this one Mitch owes Damien Losa a favor. Unfortunately Losa is a powerful crime boss who is not to be trusted.

The Syrian government has developed a new, permanently addictable drug and plans to distribute it throughout Europe, in Losa's territory. He sends Rapp to investigate because Rapp is easily expendable.

It turns out that Syria didn't develop the drugs, Russia did.

​It's another fast paced Mitch Rapp novel and, apparently, the last that Kyle Mills will write. I think he did a great job of continuing the Mitch Rapp series after the death of Vince Flynn but I'm glad he's going back to his own books. I'm glad to hear that because I found Mills through his first books and I loved them.

Don Bentley is picking up the Mitch Rapp series next and book #23, Capture or Kill, will be out in September.

The Women
By Kristen Hannah, Read by Julia Whelan

This book is probably going to be on my top 10 for 2024. I read it in 2 days because I couldn't put it down. In brief, it's the telling of the lives of nurses in Vietnam and the trials of their levies after service. We need more books about the perspective of service people in the Vietnam War.

Francis (Frankie) McGrath comes from a family of war heroes. Her father has installed a "heroes wall" in their home. She's 20 years old and her brother has recently graduated from the Naval Academy and is deploying to Vietnam. When one of his friends tells her that "women can be heroes too" she decides to use er nursing degree to join the Army Nursing Corps and follows her brother to the war. She is not prepared for the devastation and chaos but, with her nursing friends, she becomes an amazing nurse.

After 2 years in country she is surprised to come home to an unwelcoming country and she had trouble getting support from the VA because "women didn't serve in Vietnam". Her adjustment back home is long and difficult.

I think this book will really speak to anyone who knew someone who served in Vietnam and it is a book that was long overdue. Kristen hannah did an amazing job of keeping the story in the period and not overlaying modern mores on the story. If you read it, you will cry.

The Stranger in the Woods
By Michael Finkel

I'm not sure how I hears about this book. Maybe a recommendation from one of you. Regardless, it was a good one! I picked up a hard copy from Thrift Books and read it on my daily vitamin D sessions outside.

This is the story of Christopher Knight. In 1986 he was 20 years old and had been working a couple of years out of high school. One day he left without telling anyone. He drove to Florida and then back to Maine, near Moosehead Lake. He was running out of gas and money so he ditched the car and set out on foot. He eventually arrived to a wooded area west of Albion on one of the thousands of lakes (ponds) in the state. He stayed there for 27 years.

He lived in a tent, never lit a fire and broke into nearby cottages for food, fuel, clothing and reading material. He took only what he needed and was dubbed the North Pond Hermit. People knew he existed but no one had seen him. 

The author became interested in him after the new of his capture and was eventually able to make contact and build some sort of relationship with him. This is the story of why he left and how he lived. It's really fascinating.

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers
By Samuel Burr, Read By Penelope Keith and Russell Tovey

Clayton Stumper is a young man with an old soul. As a baby he was abandoned on the steps of The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers where he was raised by an eclectic group of puzzle and game makers. They make crossword puzzles, word puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, mazes and any other type of puzzle you can think of. 

Pippa Allsbrook was a master crossword maker and the mother in Clayton's life. When she dies, she leaves him a puzzle trail to help him find his birth mother and also to help him find himself. 

I'd call this a charming story. It's set in modern times with flashbacks to the past 20 years around the time of Clayton's birth and the founding of the Fellowship. It's a nice easy and entertaining read.

Miss Benson's Beetle
By Rachel Joyce. Read By Juliet Stevenson

It's 1950 in post-war London and Margery Benson lives drudgery life with a teaching job she hates. She's had enough and she impulsively quits her job and place to go halfway around the world to search for a rare beetle, the golden beetle of New Caledonia, that may not exist at all.

She advertises for an assistant and has to settle on the 1950's version of Elle Woods but more of a prostitute than lawyer. Enid Pretty shows up wearing a pink suit and pompom sandals.  It turns out that Enid is incredible resourceful and they make a great team. Their friendship and resourcefulness gets them through some trying and dangerous times on their trip. 

This was a great read. It's a good mix of serious story and humor. I really enjoyed it.

The Vacancy in Room 10
By Seraphina Nova Glass, Read By Brittany Pressley and Stacey Glemboski

Anna Hartley's husband has an artist retreat studio in a dilapidated hotel-turned-apartment complex. He calls her one day in a panic saying that he's murdered someone.  Something she knows he's incapable of. Later his body is found on the banks of the Rio Grande and everyone assumes it's suicide.

Anna decides to move into his hotel room while their house is being prepared for selling. She thinks it will allow her to get closer to Henry and understand what he was going through. She starts to learn that there's more going on at The Sycamore's than she thought.

The motel/apartment manager, Cass, seems to have her own secrets. She used to live in luxury and wear designer dresses until her partner traded her in for someone younger. She's always had maintenance and building skills so she was able to secure a job at The Sycamores as the handyman and manager. 

It's a unique mystery concept and there are good characters but these 2 women make some of the dumbest girl-like decisions. They annoyed me and I eventually sped up the narration speed so I could get to the end. It's definitely chick-lit focused on "girl-power" so if you like that type of book, you will love this. I just felt that they made some really stupid decisions.  It had nothing but rave reviews on Audible.

My Planet
By Mary Roach

A friend gave me a couple of Mary Roach books last year. Mary Roach is a science writer  and humor essayist. All of her books, as far as I know, are collections of essays. This one is a collection of observations about everyday life. These were from her Reader's Digest column. It's quite witty and entertaining.

Essays usually aren't what I like to read but these books are great for when I'm sitting in the sun. I can time myself with a certain number of essays on each side. It's also great for passing time in waiting rooms. I don't think I'd enjoy this in audio format.