LauraNav reading in 2012

Staking my claim in the 75 in 2012 group!
Looking forward to another year of great reading and fun friends!

Welcome back!

Thanks - and thanks so much for setting up this group and all the great wiki-orginization you do!

Glad to see you back with us for 2012, Laura!

Thanks Stasia. I'm looking forward to it. Giving up on a few things (categories, trying to list and write about every book). Continuing some that work (lurking). Hoping to add a few more (commenting more without just saying "me too").
It's always a pleasure to have you visit my thread!

Giving up on a few things sounds like a good plan - I have found I am terrible with the goals thing as I tend to overwhelm myself ;)

Right - overwhelm, then rebellion against the rules I made that put me in the box, then deciding I really want to do all of that too plus the stuff I veered off to do as an act of rebellion. There just isn't time for all of it!

But 2011 has been a really great year, even in reading, so I'm just hoping 2012 is just as nice.

I hope so too, Laura!

blessings!! xox

Happy New Year, Laura. Just came by to drop my star.

Thanks for dropping in!

And, I've finished my first book of 2012. I did read the first 1/3rd of the book yesterday. But it still count.

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi - book 3 in a series of 4 about the army defending colonies in space.

Now that the year has officially started - some ruminations.

Reading last year was sporadic. It was for a good cause, I had a lot of good things going on that kept me busy and didn't leave a lot of time for reading. It was a good year for biographies and series (mysteries, scifi, fantasy, thriller).
I also read some good nonfiction and some classics.
Most of the year I varied months of 4 books with months of 12 books. December I made up for all of it with 25 books. It was the one month, ironically, when we had the least outside activity so I just splurged and spent every moment I could reading.

My husband and I spent about an hour today on our annual state of the union, where we discuss what we think we did well this past year and what was a bit out of balance and then talk about what we want the next year to be like.
We don't make a lot of really detailed plans, but we try to set some intentions.

Reading plans for 2012 are not real ambitious. Last January I had my 11 categories and I ended up with 3 of those categories through the roof and 4 categories that I barely squeezed in one book. And as the reading #s for the month got short, my categories felt like a straightjacket. So, off with the shackles this year. I'll take what I can get and not worry about the rest. (Although, there is a part of me that really liked my categories from last year and keeps wanting to reuse them)
And somehow I fit in 9 biographies, even though biographies was NOT one of my categories. But hey, it's 12 categories this year so that would work, I could just tack it on to the end.... But I digress. :-)

Anyway - I do have some high flying plans to read Original Intent along with the Federalist Papers and maybe even the Anti-Federalist Papers and this bio I have about James Madison . But I had a similar plan last year and look where we are. So we'll see.

My aunt's husband has me well supplied right now with John Scalzi, Lee Child, John Ringo, Brad Thor, and Stephen Hunter. That should get me well into February or March (or even April). And I've seen his house, he could keep me hopping all year!

Enough rambling, let the reading continue!

Happy New Year, Laura! Delighted that you enjoyed the Riddlemaster trilogy.

Wishing you great reads in 2012!

Wow, your own personal state of the union talk. I like that idea. I'm not sure I want to rock the marriage boat, though. We've been pretty smoothly sailing for 43 years now without deep conversations. ;-)

Read what you want, when you want, where you want, etc. Sounds good to me. I'm trying on your discarded straightjacket; not sure I like it.

Welcome back, Laura, and Happy New Year to you.

Can I borrow your aunt's husband?

Hi Laura and a Happy New Year. Hope it is a good one.

Welcome back for 2012 Laura. I try and have occasional 'State of Union' chats with my husband too (it's not as scary as it sounds Donna!) - it's nice to chat and focus on long term things that we tend to forget about in the busyness of day to day stuff.

Hi Roni - discoveries like Patricia McKillip and the Riddlemaster are wonderful benefits of hanging around LT.

Hi Chelli - thanks for dropping by.

Donna - 43 years is a good thing, you must be doing something right. Good luck with the categories - it can be fun and just know that you'll veer off at times

Stasia - Haha - I do love Don. He is an old curmudgeon but we have similar reading tastes and he owns even more books than I do. It is nice to have someone else who loans me 10 books at a time and sees nothing extraordinary when I bring them all back in the next month or two.

Hi Calm - I do hope it is a good one for all of us.

Thanks Heather - it is good to spend a little time talking long term. I am blessed with a wonderful husband - these talks are actually his idea (Jan 29 makes 19 years).

Don sounds like a very nice old curmudgeon and you are one lucky gal!

Finished book #2. The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston.
I first heard about this book 3 or 4 years ago and didn't really understand it was biography/autobiography until I read it this week.

It is also the first book where I would say the way the story was told was such a crucial part of the story itself. I found the explanation of what her mother's life was like in China before she finally came to the US to join her husband compared to her life after she got the US was very interesting. As well as the insight of the husband of her sister who knew not to bring her to the US because she couldn't live this life. Although he didn't handle his side of it perfectly either.

Very interesting read and I am glad I have it on my shelf to revisit it.

#21: I have had that book recommended to me before. Maybe this will be the year I finally get it read!

I've read a few more books, but not the kind where I really have a lot to say about them.
I have read the third book, The Last Colony, in the John Scalzi series. I found out there is a 4th one so I've ordered is to I can share it with my aunt's husband, Don the Curmudgeon. This was an interesting series where people can decide at 75 to volunteer to leave earth and be in the space military.

Then I read Tripwire by Lee Child - an enjoyable series that I am sharing with my Mom and Don the Curmudgeon - we just keep trading various books back and forth in this series.

My LT Santa sent me The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells. This was a fun read, and I'm excited to have found a new author. Interesting concepts and a good look at prejudice and the loneliness and defenses that creates.

Ghost by John Ringo - first in a series. I have really really enjoyed the other John Ringo books I have read and highly recommend his Looking Glass series - funny and action packed. This book started kind of oddly and just went completely off the rails. I don't go for soft porn so I'll just skip the rest of this series. I will still read more John Ringo though. He seems to be limiting this side of him to just this one series.

Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones - a very fun read and a good one to detox with after Ghost. I read it in a few hours last night and am so glad I have discovered this author in the past 6 months!

Now begins the part of deciding what to read next. I have a few nonfiction books that take dedicated time to read/think/write about to make sure I'm getting it. And I have several fiction series that I would love to pick up the next in line and just breeze through. This last is too tempting, as I can find myself weeks later still not making the time to get to my nonfiction reads. I'll start a fiction during a short blip of time but then when I get a longer period of time to focus, it's so easy to pick up that fun fiction book instead. Which is funny, I do actually enjoy the few nonfiction reads I have right now. Ah well, it will all happen or it won't.

I finished The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller last night
I thought it was a wonderful book and posted a review here in LT. I admit to the usual thoughts of who else would really benefit from this book, but really only because by the end I was pretty sure that everyone who is married or thinking of getting married should read it.
It will be one to be reread and discussed with others.

Now, I'm trying to buckle down and read Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands by Paul David Tripp.

I started it during our August trip to Mexico and found it very readable and interesting. But then I somehow just didn't pick it up again. Then this month I found myself resisting re-reading the first 4 chapters. But I finally sat down tonight and did just that, with a handy pen for underlining and taking notes.

Now I will be moving forward the next time I pick up the book.

Even the first 4 chapters have some very good food for thought and encouraging words. I like the subtitle: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change.
He does a good job of admitting none of use are perfect but also pointing out that God can work with that and we should be active and be intentional in the counsel we give to others.

I admit I'm a bit passive. I am all for putting someone in touch with my pastor or even an elder or someone else who seems wise. And I'm really good at referring someone to a book that has been especially helpful to me.

I'm not so good at putting myself into the middle of a person's mess and being the person who helps them, talks to them, listens to them, reminds them of spiritual truths. That is something I am having to really work on being intentional about. I do have one friend I do that with, but that's because she started it and it is easy to reciprocate, and I treasure the openness we have and the things we share with each other.

I've finished two more.
We'll Always Have Parrots is the next one in that series - they are such fun mysteries!

Today I read Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. I wasn't going to participate in the Steinbeckathon this year. I sort of liked Grapes of Wrath when I read it last year, but I just hadn't planned on reading more Steinbeck this year. But Donna and Pat had such great things to say about it (and everyone else who read it) that I just had to give it a try. And I figured out it was a short book (unlike GoW). I am so glad I picked it up.

I remembered all the things I did enjoy with GoW - the way Steinbeck sees nature and slips in descriptions of fields, animals, seasons, etc, that could even be called flowery but have a way of getting you into the story and complementing the events and situations of the people in the chapter before and after.

And he is just so good at telling a story. The very first chapter tells us so much about Lee Chong, the grocer, and about Mack and the other vagrants who mean well but somehow mostly benefit themselves. The ending of chapter 1 already has us saying "uh oh, watch out Doc" and the rest of the book shows how things turn out for Doc thanks to Mack and the boys and the rest of the town of course.

So, now I'm onboard for the Steinbeckathon this year.

Yay! So glad you liked Cannery Row and will continue on with the Steinbeckathon.

Thanks Pat. I'm glad you are doing well and moving on out of the chemo treatments!

Well, this week I've made progress on a brand new series and more progress on an existing series. Apparently my trigger right now is working through series I've started.

The Lions of Lucerne and Path of the Assassin by Brad Thor introduce us to Scott Horvath with the Secret Service. I enjoyed them, for what they are I think they are good. Although, at times I had to put it down because the "our agency is just so much better than your agency" and even the "I'm brilliant and you are stupid" stuff to be a bit much. But he'd tone it back down and get back to the story.

There are 6 more so far in that series, so plenty more to enjoy.

Then I read Running Blind aka The Visitor by Lee Child.

Laura, you are going great guns with the reading. I'll sit back and watch!
We don't do "state of the union" either - it must be a generational thing. DH would laugh me out of the room were I to propose it, I fear. On the other hand, we've managed 41 years; sometimes we get it really right and sometimes not, but we both continue to care how it turns out.

Thanks for dropping by - good to know someone is watching. I suspect the great gobs of reading will slow down as the year really gets under way. But it's been a fun 2 months!

As for the "state of the union", if you are doing well with 41 years together, I say don't fix it if it ain't broke.

Anthony and I both came from broken homes - so we have tried to do some things to avoid the same fate. My father's comment when we were first married was that communication seemed to be the hardest thing. We couldn't really get that because we were always talking and sharing. But as we got more comfortable in the marriage we could see where it could become easier to not communicate.

And I sometimes find the new year a depressing time if I feel like the past year hasn't been very productive or seen much growth, or met expectations (depending on what I'm feeling is necessary at the end of Dec.). I think our state of the union is as much a reaction to "Laura needs to know we have plans to get something done or be something a little different in the next year". I don't feel like I'm explaining this well. Oh well.

This past year has been a good year so I really didn't stress over the end/beginning at all. But I can remember previous years when it has been a serious introspective time.

I'll stop rambling now.

Stasia cracks me up!

We do the state of the union thing in a casual way most anniversaries. We get two a year, so it usually comes up at least once! LOL

I enjoy Ringo. hope you do too.

I have very much enjoyed the Ringo books I've read. My favorite is the Looking Glass series.

I was looking for something fun and light, and making more progress in one of the many series I am enjoying, so I red Owls Well that Ends Well and No Nest for the Wicket by Donna Andrews. Both were a lot of fun.

I finished Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands and now need to re-read it several more times. Very good book.

And after reading some novels by John Scalzi, I started following his blog and he recommended a brand new novel called The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. It sounded interesting and our library had it on order so I put a hold on it - and then it came in a few days later! What a fun book. It is about a woman in Her Majesty's Supernatural Secret Service. The story is fun with humor, good mystery, and some interesting thoughts about how much our memory makes us who we are. Highly Recommended!

Next up will be Great Expectations for book club, which will coincide with the week long read-along and Dickens celebration.

Hi Laura, you remind me that this is going to be a Dickens of a year for me, too! It's fun to think about reading Steinbeck, Dickens, and C.S. Lewis in the same year. I plan to get back to Our Mutual Friend next month... but then I've been saying that for the past 3 months! I think I need to begin anew to reacquaint myself with all the zany characters.

Have you read Great Expectations before? It was the first Dickens I read waaay back in 8th Grade English class. Most of my classmates grumbled about Pip and his exploits but I fell in love. I reread it a few years ago, and it retained its original charm.

Great Expectations and Dickens in general got killed for me in 6th grade. The teacher micro-questioned every chapter (Why was Pip upset? What do you think "is" means?") and made it absolutely miserable. I was in my 40s before I tried Dickens again. I'm even going to give Great Expectations another chance.

I have never read GE before, so I am looking forward to it. A friend in the book club has read it and loves it. She laughed as she told us her husband picked the night they went to that play to propose to her. She's enjoying the play all oblivious and he's sitting beside her getting rather nervous as he realizes it's about a woman left at the altar (not the best lead-in to a marriage proposal).

I have read and loved A Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol of course, but never any others. I'm hoping to read a few others this year (and on into the future of course).

There are a number of Charles Dicken's Group Reads planned for this year. Febuary is the group read of Great Expectations over at the 12 in 12 Challenge. April is going to be David Copperfield here at the 75ers, and also we are trying to put together one for A Tale of Two Cities for later in the year.

Ooh, good to know! Thanks for mentioning them.

Quick summary of my January reading. It was off the charts with 21 books finished (and one 3/4 of the way done). I know it won't last, and there are some things I have just "not done" because I wanted to keep reading. But it has been so much fun!

*The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi - 2nd in his Old Man's War series. I enjoyed all of these books.

The Woman Warrior - Maxine Hong Kingston - very different. Different storytelling methods for each chapter. Definitely glad I read it.

*The Last Colony - John Scalzi - 3rd in the series - still recommend it.

*Tripwire - Lee Child - I am enjoying the Jack Reacher books. And sharing them with my mom and Don the Curmudgeon

The Cloud Roads - Martha Wells - My SantaThing gift - I will look for more by Martha Wells.

*Ghost - John Ringo - guardedly mentioned. What an interesting book. I opted not to read the rest in this series though.

*Castle in the Air - Diana Wynne Jones -fun! So glad I discovered this author last year.

The Meaning of Marriage - Tim Keller - definitely recommended.

*We'll Always Have Parrots - Donna Andrews - you have to love Meg and her family.

Cannery Row - John Steinbeck - score! What a great storyteller

*The Lions of Lucern - Brad Thor - typical thriller, but that's not a bad thing.

*Path of the Assassin - Brad Thor - vol 2, still good

*Running Blind - Lee Child - more Jack Reacher

*Owls Well That Ends Well - Donna Andrews - more Meg

*No Nest for the Wicket - Donna Andrews - more Meg - making great progress in some of my series this month!

The Rook - Daniel O'Malley - great discovery. I read about this on John Scalzi's blog and the library had it. I highly recommend it.

Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands - Paul David Tripp - good but I need to read it several more times.

*Zoe's Tale - John Scalzi - vol 4 - still good

*1812: The Rivers of War - Eric Flint - I have avoided alternate history in the past. I would prefer to read real history. And I wish he had just told real history with his great storytelling talent. But this was definitely enjoyable. I just have to remember that the vivid scenes and fun I had meeting Sam Houston aren't real.

The Wayward Bus - John Steinbeck - I got worried about falling behind on Feb reads so I started this over the weekend and then finished it. Not as wonderful as Cannery Row, but still a great read. But a tad depressing in the people he portrays. Ah, but we are all broken and that's the truth.

*The Persuader - Lee Child - next Jack Reacher.

So, an interesting month. Between a drive to make progress in some of my series and finish a stack of books that Don the Curmudgeon had loaned me, I plowed through an odd assortment of books. Anything with an * was part of a series and/or loaned from Don. Now I have two healthy stacks of books to return this weekend when we visit Aunt Elaine and Don.

First book of February finished. The only planned read in Jan that I didn't finish was Heretics by GK Chesterton. I did manage to finish about 3/4 of it last night, but then my sister in law arrived so I couldn't finish it off. (Of course, I only stayed up that late because I knew she was coming, so I wouldn't have finished it either way.)

I managed to work through the last 5 chapters tonight. Some very interesting stuff, but it all requires a lot of thinking and cogitating. I really wanted to read Orthodoxy but people said that Orthodoxy was written after and as part of Heretics so I thought I should read Heretics first (being a "series" you know, see my prior post about how January was about being driven to read series books).

I'll have to see if I really needed to read Heretics first or not, when I finally get to Orthodoxy, hopefully later this month or March.
Heretics definitely worked better reading it quickly. I had started it in Dec reading one chapter a day and that just was not working for me. Reading it, marking things, taking notes, and just keeping on worked much better for me.

Well, all of that sounds like I didn't enjoy it. But I am glad I read it and may even read it again. Or at least review the notes I took.

February includes Great Expectations, some Fantasy, a few more books that I need to get back to Don the Curmudgeon. The weekends are booked though, so not nearly as much reading as I managed in January. The year has really begun now.

Looks like you had a terrific reading January, Laura!

Wow, Laura! That's an amazing amount of reading. Congratulations on a great start to the year. Now you can coast for awhile. ;)

I'll second the congratulations, Laura. You had an excellent start to your reading year.

Very impressive!

Hi Laura, It sounds like February will have some real life intrusions on your reading. What a productive January you had. I'm reading lots of fantasy this month, too. Quite a stretch for me!

February reading definitely tapered off. But lots of other good things were done.

I am reading 2 chunksters so I don't expect to actually finish either of them in Feb. Although I have a fairly free weekend, so maybe.

Fiction:
Fire Watch - Connie Willis: TIOLI #19, library - the time-traveling story was a lot of fun. Typical Willis so rambling and disjointed but great! And the other short stories (because that's what this is, a collection of short stories) were fun.

The Lost Gate - Orson Scott Card: Fantasy Feb, library. Once upon a time I would have owned and read this within days of it being released. But I lost track of OSC for a year or two. This was a good book and I look forward to more in the series

Echo Burning - Lee Child: TIOLI #11, library - Jack Reacher - always good

Throne of the Crescent Moon - Saladin Ahmed: Scalzi rec'd; library - interesting book and fun to read. I found it recommended on the blog by John Scalzi.

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens: Book club; and Feb 2-10 Readathon and 12 in 12 GR and TIOLI #11 - read most of it this past week. I had started it and really enjoyed it, but set it aside for Fantasy February and library books, see above. Glad I got back to it, and really enjoyed it. Pip learned a lot of good lessons.

Hoping for Something Better - Nancy Guthrie - A Bible study in the book of Hebrews, I used this as part of my daily devotion (except the past 2 weeks when I worked too many hours a day). This was a good study and I recommend it for anyone interested in working through Hebrews.

I actually finished 2 more books in February
Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card - I enjoyed this one.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin - very interesting. The few books I've read by her are all interesting. They aren't really about what they seem to be about, and you get to the end before you really figure that out.

I've already read 6 in March too.
The Enemy by Lee Child. I do like the Reacher books. A friend says they are all too much alike, but I enjoy the fact that the stories actually do differ.

Aunt Dimity's Good Deed by Nancy Atherton - quite a bit different from the Lee Child books :-) Always enjoyable.

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. Had to do it, having heard about this book in Feb while discussing GE. Very interesting story.

A Twist in the Tale by Jeffrey Archer. My mom has been looking for this book (just interested, not really trying to buy it obviously) for a few years and I ran across it on the library sale table. Fun stories and now Mom can enjoy it while house sitting for me next week.

Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake. For Fantasy Feb the Gormenghast trilogy came up again. Hard to believe I had never even heard of it until last year, so I decided I would at least try vol 1. The library doesn't have vol 2 so not sure when I'll run across it. I enjoyed the book, but not enough to rush out to purchase vol 2. I've learned that if the book isn't at least in the catalog (even if no copies or missing copies, then I can't even donate the book to add it to their collection. They would just put it on the sale table. If I thought I would be completing the set by donating, I'd pick up a copy for sure.

One Shot by Lee Child - my favorite Reacher novel yet.

As usual, an eclectic month. And my spreadsheet says that makes 36 books so far this year.
Fairly evenly divided:
library books: 15
borrowed from a friend (or Don the Curmudgeon): 10
my own shelf: 11

That's still a great total for the year so far, Laura!

Thanks Roni - I agree it's a fine total # of reads.

Currently I'm reading The Winter of Our Discontent for the Steinbeckathon. (I'm so glad this was coordinated, I am enjoying the reads and the discussions!)

I've read through ch 6 as of today and I'm finding Ethan's thoughts on p 91 interesting.
Here's two quotes I've noted:
p. 46 - “There’s an awful lot of inactive kindness which is nothing but laziness, not wanting any trouble, confusion, or effort.”

p. 91 - “Supposed my humble and interminable clerkship was not virtue at all but a moral laziness? For any success, boldness is required. Perhaps I was simply timid, fearful of consequences - in a word, lazy.”

The rest of the self-discussion over page 92 shows that Ethan is thinking of doing something big and bad.

But it was the remark from line 91 that caught me, before I read on to see where Ethan was taking this. I moved into management at work, and started an EMBA program at the same time, way back in 2006 (my, how time flies). It was a big move for me, because I had waffled for years about how seriously I would take business. I enjoy many of the things I do and working with people, but the effort and care that it takes to actually move up in business and be successful just doesn't seem worth it to me. But I decided I wanted to do it, mainly because I didn't see just staying where I was. It was an interesting 2 years, but by the end of 2008 I had finished the EMBA program without gaining much from it, had moved out of management to a position that didn't require me to let people go just so the stock price would look good, and then been one of those people let go. I got back in to my old group as a contractor. And I stayed hunkered down and licked my wounds and tried to figure out what to do next.

Here I am 3+ years later doing the same thing and wondering if I'm proving that I have a job to fund the life I have (and I do have a nice life - good friends and family and time to spend with them and on things I enjoy), or if I'm too lazy or cowardly to find something better.

I've been fairly content, so it will be interesting to see if reading TWoOD causes me some discontent. And where that might lead.

interesting musings there Laura!

Hey Susan, it's also interesting to come back here over a month later and reread them. I'm still struggling some with figuring it out. Sometimes I think I need to blast out of this spot and do something radically different (but not too hard). Then I think the fiscally responsible thing to do is to stay where I am, and I do some good taking care of others by being stable and responsible. But is this the only way to be stable and responsible? Aaaahhhh, it just goes on. So, nothing has changed, yet.

I was glad to receive your email and that things have been better. I'm really impressed with your new venture too!

Oh yeah, this is LT, I should talk about my reading a little bit.
In March I read 13 books.

Some off the beaten path reads included
Cinder by Marissa Meyer - a very interesting take on the Cinderella tale
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake. I've never heard of this trilogy until here on LT so I checked out vol 1. It was certainly interesting. Our library doesn't have vol 2 so not sure what I'll do next.

Then in April I read 2 books by a fairly new authoress, Anne Elisabeth Stengl has written Heartless and Veiled Rose, part of a series. It looks like vol 3 is out or coming soon, and then vol 4.

I howled over The Android's Dream by John Scalzi.

Really enjoyed The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck.

And was a bit fascinated by The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt.

I also read a very interesting biography of the Apostle Paul called The Apostle by John Pollock.
Wow, not bad if 6 of my April reads were worth mentioning!

Right now I'm reading Quiet by Susan Cain, about introverts (perhaps I'm the only introvert here on LT :-)

Hee-hee--knew you'd enjoy The Android's Dream!

52: Hi Laura, since I spend most of my 'spare' time with my nose in a book, I guess I would qualify as an introvert. I love days where I don't have to go out in the world and can read and putter around the house.

I was also fascinated by The Sisters Brothers. It wasn't the western kind of experience I was expecting.

John Pollock is one of my fav biographers. Have you read his A Foreign Devil in China? Aside from the fact that it's just a good book, I really appreciate Dr. Bell. For me, his is the best example I've seen of balancing ministry and family without neglecting either. Very impressive.

We're live! www.onestepawayintl.org :)

Somehow I totally missed these posts. Hi everyone!

Roni, you were right. Scalzi and the subject all made it a real winner

Hi Donna - the introverts may outnumber the extroverts here on LT. The book was very good. I could relate to much of what she was saying and her advice toward the end fits in with what I've learned over the years. I have recommended Quiet to a friend with an introvert son - while she and her other children are definitely extroverts.

Hi Susan - hm... I'll have to look for more by John Pollock. I admit I had never heard of him before this book.
Congrats! I'm excited for this venture you are started!

May reads

Finally picked up a Dr. Siri and really enjoyed The Coroner's Lunch. Looking forward to more.

Also finally picked up Rex Stout and read the first 2 Nero Wolfe mysteries.

Read A Trick of the Light - I had been putting it off because I knew I'd love it but it is so long between each book as she has to actually write them... good stuff, I am enjoying Three Pines

Another new-to-me author is Arturo Perez-Reverte. I picked up Captain Alatriste from the used books table at the library a few months ago. I liked it, makes me want to pick up my Spanish again.

Total for the year is 65 read.
27 from the library
10 borrowed
28 from my own shelves (11 older than this year, 17 bought and read this year).

I will not envy those who can browse libaries with books in their own language.

Yeah, something I can take for granted way too easily. Such easy access to books, I'm spoiled.
Don't let me tempt you, avoid the envy!

lol