rosalita (Julia) ROOTs around again in 2023-Chapter 3

My name’s Julia, and I have too many books. Well, that’s not really possible but it’s fair to say I have too many books I haven’t read yet. I’ve participated in the ROOTs group for two years, and have met my goal of 48 ROOTs each year. I’m going to aim for that same target this year, just 4 per month. Under-promise and over-deliver is the hope for 2023!

I work at my alma mater, the University of Iowa, so my thread topper features seasonal images from the campus, often (as with this summer scene from last week) the Old Capitol building at the center of campus.

That’s enough of the blather — on to the books!

Keeping Score

ROOTs (books)


Total books read (read)


Acquisitions (buy)

ROOTed in 2023
January through June

      

January
1. My Policeman by Bethan Roberts.
2. The Bone Is Pointed by Arthur W. Upfield.
3. The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang.
4. Strawberry Shortcake Murder by Joanne Fluke.

February
5. Too Many Cooks by Rex Stout.
6. Exiles by Jane Harper.
7. A Killing of Innocents by Deborah Crombie.
8. The Dry by Jane Harper.
9. Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout.

March
10. The Mystery of Swordfish Reef by Arthur W. Upfield.
11. The Mystery of the Laughing Shadow by William Arden.
12. Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout.

April
13. Murder in the Ball Park by Robert Goldsborough.
14. Force of Nature by Jane Harper.
15. The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths.

May
16. Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead.
17. Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska by Warren Zanes.
18. Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert.
19. All That Is Mine I Carry with Me by William Landay.
20. Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer (eds.).
21. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman.

June
22. An Argumentation of Historians by Jodi Taylor.
23. Bushranger of the Skies by Arthur Upfield.
24. Lightfoot by Nicholas Jennings.

KEY: Italics = non-ROOTs. Bold = Favourite book of the month.

ROOTed in 2023
July through December

        

July
25. Homegoing by Yah Gyasi.
26. Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn.
27. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells.
28. Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The man, the music and the world in 1972 by Dave Bidini.
29. Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby.
30. The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder by Lawrence Block.
31. Real Tigers by Mick Herron.
32. The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian by Lawrence Block.
33. Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane.

August
34. The Secret of the Crooked Cat by William Arden.
35. Hit Man by Lawrence Block.
36. Hit List by Lawrence Block.
37. Hit Parade by Lawrence Block.
38. Hit and Run by Lawrence Block.
39. The Cold, Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty.
40. Hit Me by Lawrence Block.
41. I Hear the Sirens in the Street by Adrian McKinty.

September
42. In the Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty.
43. Where There's a Will by Rex Stout.
44. Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty.
45. Death of a Swagman by Arthur Upfield.
46. Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty.
47. Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke.
48. Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly by Adrian McKinty.
49. Black Orchids by Rex Stout.
50. The Detective Up Late by Adrian McKinty.

October
51. The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy.
52. The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth.
53. Raise Your Hand: Adventures of an American Springsteen Fan in Europe by Caryn Rose.
54. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.
55. Abby's Fire by Corinne Malcolm Ibeling.
56. The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson.

November
57. Louis L'Amour Collection by Louis L'Amour.
58. Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy.
59. Mary and O'Neil by Justin Cronin.
60. The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon by Nick West.
61. Looped Lariats by Claude Campbell.
62. The Call by P.D. Viner.
63. The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints by M.V. Carey.

December
64. This Must Be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell.
65. The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare.
66. Not Quite Dead Enough by Rex Stout.



KEY: Italics = non-ROOTs. Bold = Favourite book of the month.

Added to the shelf in 2023
January through June

January
✔︎ 1. Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past edited by Kevin M. Kruse and Julia E. Zelizer. ($18.99 ebook/Kobo)
  * NOTE: I also have the audiobook version, won in a Twitter giveaway by Professor Kruse.
✔︎ 2. The Bone Is Pointed by Arthur W. Upfield. ($5.66 ebook/Kobo)
3. Editors on Editing: What Writers Need to Know About What Editors Do edited by Gerald Gross. ($1.70 ebook/Kobo)
4. Wish You Were Here by Stewart O'Nan. ($1.79 ebook/Kobo)
5. The Chicago Guide to Usage, Grammar and Punctuation by Bryan A. Garner. ($1.79 ebook/Kobo)
✔︎ 6. Exiles by Jane Harper. ($14.99 ebook/Kobo)

February
7. Troublemakers: Chicago Freedom Struggles Through the Lens of Art Shay by Erik S. Gellman. (free ebook/University of Chicago Press)
✔︎ 8. A Killing of Innocents by Deborah Crombie. ($14.99 ebook/Kobo)
✔︎ 9. The Mystery of Swordfish Reef by Arthur W. Upfield. (free ebook/Kobo)

March
10. This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom by Martin Hägglund. ($4.99 ebook/Kobo)
11. Caramel Pecan Roll Murder by Joanne Fluke. (89 cents ebook/Kobo)

April
✔︎ 12. Bushranger of the Skies by Arthur W. Upfield. ($5.66 ebook/Kobo)
13. Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron. ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)
✔︎ 14. The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths. ($14.99 ebook/Kobo)
✔︎ 15. Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska by Warren Zanes. ($28.00/hardcover from Prairie Lights)

May
No books bought in May! Although I did pre-order one being published in September so perhaps not quite the win I'd like it to be ...

June
16. Dangerous by Minerva Spencer. (free ebook for VIP membership renewal/Kobo)
17. The Big Bad City by Ed McBain. ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)
18. Blackberry Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke. (89 cents ebook/Kobo)
✔︎ 19. The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder by Lawrence Block. ($9.99 ebook/Kobo)
20. A is for Arsenic by Kathryn Harkup. ($2.69 ebook/Kobo)
21. Lightfoot by Nicholas Jennings. ($13.26 trade paperback/GreatBookPrices via AbeBooks)
22. Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, The Music and the World in 1972 by Dave Bidini. ($3.99 trade paperback/Indoo via AbeBooks)




KEY: ✔︎ indicates books that I have read, either this year or previously.

Added to the shelf in 2023
July through December

July
23. Smiley's People by John LeCarré. ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)
24. The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy. ($1.99 ebook/Kobo)

August
25. Billy Budd and Other Stories by Herman Melville. (99 cents ebook/Kobo)
26. The Detective Up Late by Adrian McKinty. ($8.69 ebook/Kobo)
27. The Sisters & The Roommate by Dervla McTiernan. ($1.79 ebook/Kobo)
28. Apple Turnover Murder by Joanne Fluke. (89 cents ebook/Kobo)
29. Death of a Swagman by Arthur Upfield. ($5.66 ebook/Kobo)

September
30. The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson. ($14.99 ebook/Kobo)
31. Black Orchids by Rex Stout. ($4.99 ebook/Kobo)

October
No books bought in October!

November
32. Coconut Layer Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke. (89 cents ebook/Kobo)
33. Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake. ($12.66 hardcover w/slipcase/Acanthophyllum Books via AbeBooks)
34. The Good, the Bad and the History by Jodi Taylor. (99 cents ebook/Kobo)

December
35. Pink Lemonade Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke. ($1.79 ebook/Kobo)
36. Christmas Dessert Murder by Joanne Fluke. ($1.79 ebook/Kobo)
37. Always Been There: Rosanne Cash, The List, and the Spirit of Southern Music by Michael Streissguth. ($4.25 hardcover/SecondSale via AbeBooks)
38. Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville by Michael Streissguth. ($6.51 hardcover/Better World Books via AbeBooks)
39. Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece by Michael Streissguth. ($5.62 hardcover/OwlsBooks via AbeBooks)




KEY: ✔︎ indicates books that I have read, either this year or previously.

I have so many reviews to do, but I'm afraid those won't get written today. But as my good friend Scarlett always says, tomorrow is another day...

Happy new thread, Julia. Always nice to see you here, even though I also get to "see" you on Twitter :)

Hi, Julia - I will do better at keeping up and commenting this thread! I have been scanning but you've mostly been way out of my comfort / knowledge zone. :)

Happy new thread! Looking forward to seeing those reviews fill it up :)

Happy new thread!

>8 katiekrug: Hello again, Katie! I'm much better at posting on other people's threads than my own. And we'll always* have Twitter.

>9 lyzard: No hard feelings here, Liz — I sometimes feel the same way over on your thread, after all! :-)

>10 rabbitprincess: Thanks, RP! The good news is because there are so many of them most will be the "quick summary" type, which I know people like. I reserve the right to blather on at a bit more length for at least a couple of the, though.

>11 MissWatson: Thanks for stopping by, Birgit!

* Offer good for a limited time only. Some limitations (like the idiocy of the owner) apply. ;-)

>12 rosalita: - Snort.

>12 rosalita: Wait, is it still Twitter? Looking forward to the reviews, Julia. It took awhile for the book covers on your thread to load but nothing brought the topper into view.

Happy new thread! I think LT (and Litsy) are having some issues with covers etc, according to a facebook post I saw earlier, so I wonder if it's still glitching.

>14 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg! I refuse to use whatever stupid name the egomaniac running the site — let's just call him Space Karen — has decreed this week. So yes, it's still Twitter to me, and will be until they turn out the lights for good.

There was a problem with images all over LT and Litsy, and though it's now been fixed it takes a while for everyone's browser to recognize and start using the new files. I'm sure the thread topper image will show up again sooner or later -- I guess you'll just have to check back in in a few days. :)

>15 Jackie_K: Yep, differences in browser caches are making it difficult for the fix to roll out evenly, apparently.

>16 rosalita: I reloaded the images that had disappeared from one of my threads, and it worked fine. Saved the inner workings the trouble of dealing with those two, at least!

>17 laytonwoman3rd: Smart thinking, Linda!

Hey Julia! You have been very restrained with your book buying this year. Kudos! I was wondering why images, book covers, etc. have been wonky lately...

Anyway, happy new one.

Happy new thread, Julia! Your topper is gorgeous!

>19 BLBera: I'm glad you think my book buying has been restrained, Beth. If you say it often enough, I might even believe it. :-)

>20 atozgrl: Thanks, Irene! The center of campus is a lovely space. My office is right across the street, although even when I worked in the office it was in a space with no windows so it's not like I could enjoy the view. But walking outside was always a pleasure.

Happy new one, Julia!

Thanks, Joanne!

>21 rosalita: Your book buying *has* been restrained, Julia! (says me, who just welcomed new book #109 this year into my life yesterday).

>24 Jackie_K: You are my book-buying hero, Jackie!

Happy Newish thread, Julia!

More greetings from me, Julia. I am so glad the pictures are back, I did miss them.

>26 connie53: >27 charl08: Thanks for stopping by, Connie and Charlotte! I'm sorry not to have more interesting content for you to read. I am desperately far behind on posting reviews.

My Currently Reading collection is getting embarrassingly long because I keep books there until I've posted about them here, and I haven't done that since (gulp) June. Bad Julia!

Instead of posting them all in the order I read them, I'm going to group them thematically, which will make more sense as I post them. So here goes ...

  

24. Lightfoot by Nicholas Jennings.

28. Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972 by Dave Bidini.

I posted a bit about the Jennings biography of Gordon Lightfoot back when I was reading it. It's very well-written and includes lots of information about Lightfoot's personal life as well as his songwriting and musical career. In some ways, Gord's story reminds me of the recent Paul Newman "memoir" The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man. Both were supremely talented individuals who seemed unable to accept or enjoy their own gifts and the success and accolades they earned until quite late in life. Jennings had full access to Lightfoot, his band members and family, which makes its searing honesty even more surprising. I came away from Lightfoot with a better understanding of the man and his music, which is pretty much what you want from a biography. My only quibble is the chronological structure didn't allow for making connections between different songs/albums/personal circumstances across the years.

The Bidini book, on the other hand — ooof. As Pete Campbell plaintively cried out on Mad Men, "Not great, Bob!" Dave Bidini did not have access to Lightfoot — Gord repeatedly refused his requests for an interview. Bidini turns that rejection into a sort of badge of honor, and fashions the book as an "open letter" to Lightfoot, speculating about his life and relating some tawdry gossip and anonymous criticism. Evidently realizing this self-indulgent stunt wasn't enough to carry a whole book, Bidini attempts to give the feather-light narrative more gravitas by alternating sections of his "letter" with a slapdash chronicling of events that happened during a particular week in 1972 — the week when both Dylan and Lightfoot appeared at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Toronto. The every-other-chapter structure makes the narrative even more disjoined than trying to tie together a bunch of completely unrelated events together would be ordinarily. The only consolation for me is I bought this one for $3 at a used bookstore.

25. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.

Two half-sisters, born into two different tribes in 18th century Ghana, are the starting point for a sprawling multi-generational saga that traces the fortunes and misfortunes of the sisters and their descendants. One sister married an Englishman who spearheads the export of slave labor to the Americas; the other is one of those slaves who lands in the American South at the height of the antebellum slavery period.

Neither branch of the family emerges unscathed by the colonialist slave trade through the generations, though they are scarred (physically as well as emotionally) in different ways. Gyasi doesn't hold back in her depictions of the brutality inflicted on the Ghanians, and while she also is clear about the existence of slaves being part of the spoils of war between tribes, the reader can clearly see how much worse the colonial slave trade was for families, ripping them apart and away from their home.

I can't say I enjoyed reading this book. It is bleak and graphic and grim. But I'm glad I read it because it's a window onto the "other side" of the slavery story that gets taught in American schools (or at least was; heaven only knows what kids will be taught in the years to come).

Hi, darls! I see we've both been off the grid for about the same time; I've just been doing some catch-up posts (though no actual reviewing, of course). Hope all is well with you. :)

>32 lyzard: Good to see you, Liz! Here's to better luck keeping up for both of us going forward. Well, first I actually have to catch up, then worry about keeping up. :-)

26. Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn.

The fourth book in the series tackles the story of Colin, third sibling in the alphabetically named Bridgerton clan. It was interesting to read this one and spot the many differences from the Netflix series. I don't remember it well enough to comment more deeply.

27. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells.

Another series continuation, this time the third book in the Murderbot Diaries science fiction series by Martha Wells. The moody Murderbot is hot on the trail of evidence that the evil GrayCris corporation (who were behind the shambolic mission that first set Murderbot free) has been up to even more shady dealings on another planet. When she travels to that place, she ends up getting entangled in a mixed human/android expedition that raises complicated feelings — why do the humans insist on treating their droid as a friend or pet instead of a tool?

29. Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby.

The sort of book that the adjectives "bleak" and "gritty" were made for. Living in a rural part of Virginia where antebellum attitudes hang on, Bug Montage has a checkered past as the getaway driver for some very unsavory people, but he's working hard to go straight, owning a mechanic shop and trying to be a good provider and set a good example for his wife and two young sons. When his business falters, he lets himself be drawn back into "one last heist" even though he knows that a black man such as himself has no business trusting a couple of white grifters who have a reverse-Midas effect: Everything they touch turns to dirt.

Cosby could have delivered a standard narrative, in which a fundamentally good man is drawn back into bad behavior by economic circumstances beyond his control. Instead, he gives us a much more nuanced character who, yes, needs the financial security that will come from a successful job, but who also misses the exhilarating highs that came from eluding the police in his illicit past. He's also struggling to come to terms with the disappearance of his father, who first introduced him to a life of crime before running afoul of his fellow criminals.

The opening scene alerted me that I would have to throw out my casual assumptions, when an illegal drag race goes awry and Bug doesn't settle for being grateful not to be arrested or killed but instead sets out to claim what is rightfully his. The climax of the book, when Bug has to confront the damage he's done to his family in his quest to provide for them, is heart-wrenching in its raw emotions from all of the key players, from Bug to his wife to his sons and daughter.

There's plenty of brutality in the story, and it's not for the squeamish. But all in all, this is an extraordinary book from a first-rate storyteller. I look forward to reading more from Cosby soonish.

After reading All the SInners Bleed, I am looking forward to more Cosby. I have BW on my Kindle...

Romancing Mr. Bridgerton was the first of the series I read way back in the early 00s, so I often say it's my favorite, but when I re-read it a few years ago, I wasn't as enamored.

>37 katiekrug: I've still got a long wait on the library holds list for All the Sinners Bleed, but I think I have Razorblade Tears lurking on my Kobo somewhere.

That's interesting about your reaction to the Bridgerton book on the second read, Katie. I wasn't sure if I was feeling underwhelmed because of the book or because so much of the story had already been revealed in the Netflix series. I still want to continue with the series, but I'm tempering my expectations somewhat.

>38 rosalita: - I also have Razorblade Tears on my e-reader!

I think my favorite now is To Sir Philip with Love, which I guess is next up for you? It's a bit spoiler-y for the series, but I found the way they introduced some of the characters from the book into the series interesting. Plus, Eloise!

The last three in the series are, to me, mcuh weaker, especially G & H's stories... Francesca's is just different because she's such a non-entity in the earlier books.

>39 katiekrug: I do think Eloise is my favorite Bridgerton, primarily based on the Netflix series. So I'm glad to hear the next one is a winner. And those three youngest Bridgertons really haven't had much of a presence in the books so far, so it's not surprising that their stories fall a bit flat.

Welp, now you'll probably hate it ;-)

>35 rosalita: I've heard lots of good things about the Murderbot books, but know if I bought them I'd probably never get round to them. Maybe one day!

30. The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder by Lawrence Block.

Lawrence Block wrote 17 novels, numerous short stories and a novella featuring Matthew Scudder, a former New York City police detective whose life skids off track after a tragic accident on the job. When the series opens, Scudder has abandoned his family on Long Island, living in a residential hotel in Hell's Kitchen and drowning his sorrows in bourbon. To fill the time between drinks, he occasionally does "favors" for friends and acquaintances which amount to acting as an unlicensed private detective. Scudder is a great character who grows and changes throughout the series, so starting at No. 1, The Sins of the Fathers is highly recommended.

This book, written this year — more than a decade after the last novel, A Drop of the Hard Stuff — is different. Like the novels and stories, it's written in the first person, narrated by Scudder. But this time, it's meant to be Scudder writing down the rest of his life story — all the bits that "the other guy" aka Lawrence Block left out or got wrong. The premise sounds a bit rickety but it works surprisingly well. If this is the last we hear from Scudder (and surely it is — Block is 85 years old) it's a sweetly poignant note to end on.

31. Real Tigers by Mick Herron.

I read the first two books in the Slough House series long before Apple TV+ made a TV series out of them. I really liked them but I got stalled because my library didn't have No. 3 or several of the following ones. Happily, the success of the streaming series spurred the library to acquire most if not all of the missing books. I'm happy to be back in the world of the Slow Horses.

All of the Slow Horses get up to a surprisingly energetic amount of activity in this one, as Catherine Standish, the administrative assistant who holds the place together, goes missing. Searching for her doesn't do much to take Louisa's mind off the tragic loss she suffered in Book 2 (Dead Lions) but she gives it her best effort, which is quite good indeed for someone officially labeled a screw-up. Meanwhile, River Cartwright stumbles into another angle of the plot when he learns about a diabolical plan by a Russian sleeper cell to fly a plane into a London building.

There's plenty of British humor, the new Horses settle into their roles well, and some recurring characters get exactly what they deserve, which is always satisfying. I'm looking forward to see this one come to life on Apple TV+.

>42 Jackie_K: I missed your comments in my posting frenzy, Jackie! They really are good, and because these first five or so are novellas they are quick reads. So you might find yourself slipping in at the odd time when you don't want to get stuck into something more involved.

I love Murderbot. I've listened to all of the books. The narrator Kevin Free is wonderful.

After seeing your comments on Blacktop Wasteland, I wonder if the book is for me. I am squeamish.

I need to get to the Herron series; it sounds like one I would love.

Great comments.

>46 BLBera: Thanks, Beth! I think you'd enjoy the Herron series.

Look at you finishing all those books! Wow. Nice recap, Julia. This is the second time this week I've seen Mick Herron mentioned. Clearly it's a sign.

>48 lauralkeet: All those reviews and I'm only up to late July! It's shameful how I let myself go this year. Must try to do better in 2024.

And I do think you'd like the Slough House series as well, Laura. Also the Apple TV+ series. So far there have been two seasons, one for each of the first two books. I really hope they stick to that format, because 6 to 8 episodes (I can't remember exactly how many are in each season) are the perfect length for not having to leave out huge chunks of what's in the books.

32. The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian.

I can't remember what prompted me to pick this book up at the end of July. I probably wanted a quick re-read before starting a new book that I knew would be more time-consuming, and Lawrence Block was on my mind having recently read The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder (see >43 rosalita:). Anyway, this is a perfectly fine entry in Block's other long-running series, featuring gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr. Full of the wit and whimsy that characterizes the whole series, it was a solid in-between read.

This was also foreshadowing for what's coming up in a few posts ...

33. Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane.

Boston in 1974 had a lot in common with Birmingham, Alabama. A court ruled earlier that year that Boston public schools must be desegregated in the fall of that year, leading to a summer full of racial tension centered on the black neighborhood of Roxbury and vociferous protests in the white working-class neighborhoods of South Boston.

Mary Pat, proud Irish Catholic single mother and vehement anti-busing advocate, is distracted from the activism she plans with other mothers in Southie when her teenage daughter Jules goes missing. On the same evening, a young black man is found dead in a Southie subway station. Do these two events connect, and how?

Man, the racism and the foul language, the cruelty and the violence that characters perpetuate on each other is so hard to read — not because it's exaggerated or over-the-top in its depiction but because it is all too depressingly real. The ways that even Mary Pat — as close as this novel comes to a protagonist — speaks about black people is like a bucket of cold water in your face. When the dead teenager turns out to be the son of Mary Pat's black co-worker at the nursing home, she tries and mostly fails to reach out to her with compassion, and is nevertheless surprised for her half-hearted condolences to be met with anger and resentment. The gulf between these two women, who have so much in common, cannot be overcome with a clever plot point or one heartfelt conversation. It is bone deep, generations old, and will undoubtedly live on in future generations on both sides.

There are also more bog-standard depictions of neighborhood gangsters and drug dealing, and it all comes together in an explosive finale that metes out a certain rough justice that satisfies no one. But those weren't the aspects that stuck with me. It was the seeming hopelessness of the interpersonal relations between two sets of Americans who struggle to even see each other as human that still haunts my thoughts.

34. The Secret of the Crooked Cat by William Arden.

The Three Investigators (teenager boys Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews) are drawn into a mystery surrounding a traveling carnival that seems to be plagued with a series of "accidents" that may mean it's cursed. It all seems to hinge on one of the prizes given in a midway shooting gallery game — a series of identical "crooked" stuffed cats.

By the end of the book, bank robbers and gypsies are also drawn into the carnival's mystery. There is some very questionable laissez-faire parenting among the carnival set and it's a wonder nobody lost a leg or worse in all the shenanigans, but as always in this series, all's well that ends well when Jupiter really puts his mind to the problem.

        

35. Hit Man by Lawrence Block.
36. Hit List by Lawrence Block.
37. Hit Parade by Lawrence Block.
38. Hit and Run by Lawrence Block.
40. Hit Me by Lawrence Block.

After dipping my toe into his oeuvre the previous month, August was well and truly Lawrence Block Month. I meant to just re-read Hit Man, the first book in this series about Keller, a neurotic and disturbingly likable assassin for hire, because it's very episodic in nature and can be read in short chunks.

But when I finished it, I found myself picking up the next in the series, Hit List which adds a throughline to the episodic structure: Keller slowly comes to realize that someone is trying to kill the killer — himself. He and his handler, Dot, work together to figure out who it is and how to neutralize the threat before the threat neutralizes Keller.

And then I was fully invested and picking up the third book, Hit Parade, was just reflex. Here the assassin's lifestyle starts to pale, and he and Dot both contemplate retirement. But what will Keller do to pass his time once he's no longer helping people pass on? He takes up stamp collecting of course, and it isn't long before he's fully caught up in buying stamps in whatever city he's sent to for work. But now there's a problem: The nest egg he had set aside for retirement is being eaten up by buying expensive stamps for his collection. So he and Dot decide he'll take every job that is offered to build it back up and get them both back in a financial position to hang it up for good. By the end of this one, he's just about there ...

So of course I had to read Hit and Run — one last job before Keller and Dot retire, and it's in Des Moines, Iowa. Except someone else — a visiting governor — gets killed while he's in Des Moines and it doesn't take long for him to realize he's been lured to the city to take the fall for a killing he didn't do. He has no choice but to cut himself off from contact with Dot and go on the run, driving across the country with just one destination in mind: Getting back to the safety of his New York apartment.

And now there's just one book left, Hit Parade, and who among us can walk away from the last Oreo in the bag? Keller has assumed a new identity to elude the manhunt for the governor killer, and he's settled in New Orleans and acquired a wife and baby girl (her name's Julia, so you know she's smart and adorable). But his past reaches out to him one more time — what will Keller do?

I love this character and all his quirks and neuroses, and for a series of books about a hired assassin it is surprisingly light and witty in tone. I found myself getting quite caught up in the stamp collecting milieu. You do get a lot of information about stamp collecting and it should be boring but it's not, or at least it wasn't for me. The depictions of Keller's assignments are presented as puzzles to be solved — how to approach the target without arousing suspicion, how to actually do the job (some clients want the death to seem like an accident while others want it to be a spectacular; some rule out the possibility of "collateral damage" and others don't care). I learned almost as much about how to approach murdering someone as I did about stamp collecting, and I enjoyed both even though I'll never take up either hobby.

And that's another series re-read done. I'm sure I'll re-visit these books in a few years and enjoy them all over again.

>53 rosalita: Great comments. I couldn't have resisted either.

>53 rosalita: -

>54 BLBera: Thanks, Beth!

>55 katiekrug: That is ... not how I picture Keller.

Hi Julia, Glad to see you were able to get back to the Slough House world! I have Mick Herron's latest book waiting for me at the library. I've only read his Slow Horses books but I'm looking forward to checking this one out.

Small Mercies is still a book I think about.

>57 Copperskye: Hi, Joanne! I am torn about continuing with the Herron series as I normally would and waiting to read the books as the Apple series are released, assuming they continue to make each season analogous to one book.

            

39. The Cold, Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty.
41. I Hear the Sirens in the Street by Adrian McKinty.
42. In the Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty.
44. Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty.
46. Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty.
48. Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly by Adrian McKinty.
50. The Detective Up Late by Adrian McKinty.

I know what you're thinking, I really do. You're thinking, "Son of a biscuit, Julia's gone off the deep end and is stuck in a time warp, reading entire series instead of one book at a time. What on earth has gotten into her?"

I don't suppose it would help to tell you there was a method to my madness? OK, not the Keller's Greatest Hits series — that was pure impulse. But I can explain this one. Sort of.

Lots of folks around LibraryThing know and love the Sean Duffy series, about a Catholic policeman in the (predominantly Protestant) Royal Ulster Constabulary police force during the sectarian Troubles. For a long time — Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly was published in 2017 — the series was thought to be finished. Times were tough for McKinty and he nearly gave up writing altogether. Then in 2019 he wrote a blockbuster thriller, The Chain, and then another one in 2022, The Island. With his new publishing clout, he wrangled a contract to write three more Duffy books to round out the series properly.

The first of that final trilogy, The Detective Up Late, was published in August. I had been putting off reading the sixth when I thought there would be no more, so when the new publication date was announced I planned to finally read that one and then the new one. But I'd read all of the others in 2020 and I don't know about you, but I don't remember much of what I read during that hellish year. There was nothing to do, really, except read the whole dang series.

I'm not a monster, though. These books are significantly more noir than the Block series and I didn't want to read them in one long binge. So I alternated them with other books (reviews to come) until I finished them off as the clock ticked around to Oct. 1. I won't review each one, but I can give an impression of the series as a whole after reading it all in the space of a little more than a month.

First of all, it's good. Really good. Sean Duffy is a great character and first-person narrator. He's not your typical peeler. He listens to classical music and punk rock, he reads poetry and philosophy and speaks Irish, he blunts the insanity of trying to keep order in riot- and bomb-filled Belfast with copious amounts of whiskey and weed — plus the occasional snort of cocaine. He's sad and stubborn and snarky, and his career suffers in various ways because of all three. He's good company as McKinty takes us from 1980 in the first book to 1990 in the latest, chronicling the years mostly in terms of how little the sectarian violence changes over time.

The new book, The Detective Up Late, could be subtitled "Duffy's Last Case" as that's what everyone in the book is calling it — one last investigation of a missing tinker girl before he transitions to part-time work (phased retirement, we'd call it at my workplace). Given that there are meant to be two more books, I'm quite sure it isn't his last case, and if McKinty doesn't faff about for 6 years between releases again I won't have to read the whole lot again when the next one is published.

>59 rosalita: - Great comments! I still have #6 to read before I even get to the newest. But you are tempting me with a re-read - though maybe on audio, as Mamie has said the narration is excellent... Hmmm.....

ETA: I find it funny that I haven't liked his other books. I read The Chain and it was okay. I didn't even finish The Island. And I think I tried another one on audio once - it was set in Colorado? - and couldn't get on with it, either.

>59 rosalita: Hi Julia, I keep meaning to start the Sean Duffy series. I think I have The Cold, Cold Ground on my Kindle. Thanks for the reminder - and you make the books and the character sound very appealing.

>60 katiekrug: I'm not going to tell anyone they should re-read five books in order to read two new ones. That would obviously be nuts. And yet ... I have seen good reviews of the Duffy audiobook narrator on Twitter as well, so ... I'm not not telling you to do it. ;-)

>61 Copperskye: It was hard to describe without getting into specific details that might be considered spoilers, so I'm glad it resonated with you, Joanne.

>62 rosalita: - I've put the audio of The Cold, Cold Ground on hold :)

>64 katiekrug: W00t!

Nice summary of the Sean Duffy series, Julia. I've read the first three, recently enough that I can just keep going. I really like the series and am glad Katie's warbling convinced me to give it a try.

>66 lauralkeet: Thanks, Laura. I'm also glad you listened to Katie's warbling. The more people on the Sean Duffy train, the better. :-)

43. Where There's a Will by Rex Stout.

The eighth book in Stout's series featuring Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. A re-read to keep up with a shared reading project with Liz and Steve. My review from the last time I read it in 2018:

The three Hawthorne sisters — April, May, and June in reverse age order — are disconcerted when their millionaire brother, Noel, dies and bequeaths a peach, a pear, and an apple to each of them, respectively. The bulk of his estate goes not to his wife but his mistress. The sisters say they don't mind being cut out but are alarmed that sister-in-law Daisy intends to fight the will in court, thereby bringing them the short of publicity they can do without. They want Nero Wolfe to convince the mistress to give the widow half the money to prevent the lawsuit, but they soon have even bigger problems when Noel's apparently accidental death is found to be murder.

Set in 1939, this book features possibly the most eclectic set of guest characters ever to grace Wolfe's office. The Hawthorne sisters seem to be intended as a sort of low-key Colonies version of the Mitford sisters: The oldest is married to the U.S. Secretary of State; the middle sister is a brilliant scientist and college president; and the youngest is taking the Broadway stage by storm. Toss in a widow who wears a veil in public after a devastating archery accident left her permanently disfigured, and a next-generation young female whose own mother calls her "a professional fiend," and you've got a bunch of women custom-made for getting on Wolfe's nerves.

Adding insult to injury is the distasteful aspect of a family fight about money; Wolfe has previously proclaimed that he would never take such a case since it would inevitably become "a game of tug-of-war using a dead man's guts for a rope." But it's the Depression and those orchids in the rooftop greenhouse won't breed themselves. Thankfully, a good juicy murder soon pops up to make the whole puzzle more palatable for our finicky friend.

Wolfe's discomfort also provides leg man Archie Goodwin plenty of opportunity for quips and scoldings, handed out as needed to all and sundry, but especially the boss. I enjoy this one more now than when I first read it, as my appreciation for Stout's masterful command of dialogue and repartee has increased over the years.

I didn't know there were three new books, Julia, brilliant news. Off to check the library catalogue....

ETA Nope. And 25 quid for the hardback!

45. Death of a Swagman by Arthur W. Upfield.

Inspector Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte arrives in the tiny outpost of Merino as he usually enters these stories: Undercover as a half-caste itinerant "swagman" or itinerant worker. He contrives to get himself arrested as prelude to confiding his true identity to the local police sergeant, telling him he has arrived to investigate the recent murder of a local stockman.

Bony's usual method is to wander around talking to everyone, taking their measure and looking for the deadly "sting-ray" among the human fish he collects in his net. As he says, referencing an earlier book in the series, "It is not very exciting work. It is not comparable, for instance, to angling for swordfish." There aren't many fish for Bony to sweep up in his net, with a population of 120 people scattered over a 9,000-square mile region, but it still takes time to pinpoint the culprit.

The mystery itself is a cut above the average in this series, except for the ultimate motivation of the killer. Bony's whimsical relationship with the police sergeant's young daughter is charming. And as always, Upfield paints a picture of the Australian outback that makes me feel as if I've been there. Here it's a geological feature called the Walls of China, a great sand dune formed long ago by the action of the ever-present wind.

A solid entry in a solid series.

>69 charl08: Only one has been published so far, Charlotte, and recently McKinty responded to someone on Twitter to say there wasn't a UK publisher for them yet. I hope that's changed and you are able to find it!

>71 rosalita: Ah. I thought as Blackwells had it that my library would be able to get it, but if they're importing I think I'll probably have to wait. Grump!
More seriously, hope he gets a UK publisher. How else will more people find his books here? It's such a shame these novels aren't more widely read.

>72 charl08: I completely agree — I was quite surprised when he said there was no UK publisher, but perhaps that's changed since McKinty posted that. I suppose the Troubles are still a bit of a touchy subject there? But I think the books take a fairly broad "a pox on both their houses" attitude toward the whole thing. It's a shame because they are so far above the standard police procedural (which I also enjoy, to be clear).

Edited to add: I just had a look at the amazon.co.uk site and it says the book will be released on May 14, 2024 in the UK, although it's not clear to me if that's only the paperback version. That's a long time to wait!

>73 rosalita: Thanks for checking that, I appreciate it. That is a long time to wait!

47. Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke.

It's Winter Carnival time in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah and her business partner, Lisa, are busy baking cookies to sell/serve at the various events. She's not the main attraction, though. A famous celebrity cook is the guest of honor. When the official Carnival cake that she baked meets with an accident, she commandeers The Cookie Jar kitchen to whip up another one. Hannah and Lisa leave her to it, and if you've read either of the first two books in this series (or are familiar with cozy mysteries in general) you know what Hannah finds the next morning when she opens up. Despite the presence of a remarkably capable (for such a small town) police force, Hannah once again decides to run her own investigation. She's stymied, though, when it turns out that pretty much everyone who ever met the famous Connie Mac has a reason to want her dead.

Amateur investigations can't help but verge on the ridiculous in a cozy like this, and either you decide ahead of time to suspend your disbelief or you just stop reading them. I tried to keep my eye-rolling to a minimum and found I didn't mind it as much as I have in other series. A love triangle that lurked in the background in the first two books threatens to burst onto center stage in this one, and if that's what has to happen to resolve it once and for all I say go for it. I'd like to see that particular plot thread wrapped up for good in the next book, because it's fairly tiresome. I enjoyed the rest of it, though, despite the emotional whiplash from sandwiching this cozy between two of the Duffy noir police procedurals. I'll read the fourth if I can find it at the library.

49. Black Orchids by Rex Stout.

Another re-read for the Liz/Steve project (well, one of them. We've got a few on the stove). This isn't a novel but rather a pair of novellas. In the first story, Black Orchids, Archie is sent by the sedentary Wolfe to the Manhattan Flower Show to spy on an exhibition of extremely rare black orchids. Wolfe is miffed because the breeder refused to sell one to Wolfe. Along the way Archie falls in love with a pretty girl inhabiting one of the diorama-like scenes set up by a nursery, which leads him to be on the spot when a murder occurs. Wolfe manages to solve the murder and snag a black orchid plant all in one afternoon, which is pretty good.

The second novella, Cordially Invited to Meet Death finds Wolfe and Archie trying to solve the murder of a fancy party planner, who is deliberately dosed with tetanus. She had originally consulted Wolfe about some anonymous letters that were sent to some of her clients, so Wolfe is motivated to find her killer since he wasn't able to prevent her murder. The black orchids show up on the coffin at the funeral, which is framed by Archie as a mystery — why did Wolfe send one of his precious on someone he barely knew? That mystery isn't solved, but since I couldn't see the point of it other than to provide a tenuous thread between the two novellas, I'm not bothered by the dangling plot point.

This isn't one of my favorites, but it's fine. I probably wouldn't have re-read it without prompting but I'm not sorry to have done so.

>74 charl08: I hope the listing is just wrong and you find it sooner than that.

51. The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy.

A collection of short stories, unconnected to each other, about the usual topics Binchy writes about — as the blurb puts it, "matters of the heart with powerfully compelling stories of love, loss, revelation and reconciliation." I'm not sure about "powerful" but the rest tracks pretty well. Too many of the stories have a sort of O. Henry twist that is cute the first time and pales in subsequent usage.

I really enjoy Binchy's writing but I don't think short stories are her milieu. She's much better in the sprawling multi-generational sagas of her early career, like Circle of Friends or Firefly Summer, or the later interconnected novels set in Dublin, like Tara Road or Quentins. A shorter format just doesn't give Binchy room to work her gentle magic, which thrives when she's giving us multiple points of view across people and time.

So many good books, Julia. I will get to McKinty one of these days. Promise.

>79 BLBera: Thanks, Beth! I am *finally* caught up with everything I was reading and not posting about all summer. :-)

And yes, you need to at least try McKinty.

Currently Reading
(as of October 4)

It's been a while since I did one of these posts. Let's see if I can remember how ...



I borrowed The Younger Wife from the library after hearing a recommendation from Australian author Jane Harper, who has rapidly become one of my favorites in the genre, when she was a guest on the "Book Off!" podcast with another of my favorites, Elly Griffiths. The episode is from March 2023 although I just got around to listening to it a few weeks ago. (You don't want to know how many podcast episodes are lurking unheard on my phone.)

The other book recommended by both of them during that episode was Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, which I have on hold on at the library.

52. The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth.

Stephen Aston seems like the perfect husband and father. He's a respected heart surgeon and he always knows just the right thing to say and do for his wife Pam and his daughters Tully and Rachel. When Pam descends into the fog of early dementia he remains devoted to her, even after he begins a romantic relationship with the interior decorator Pam hired before her memory went.

That alone is enough to raise some eyebrows in Ashton's Melbourne, Australia, circle. But Heather is also a bit younger than either of Stephen's daughters, both of whom have some emotional issues that are interfering in their ability to process what's happening to their family. Things culminate at Stephen and Heather's wedding, to which Pam (freshly divorced by Stephen) is invited and who is on the spot when things go terribly wrong.

The book opens with the climactic scene at the wedding, although because the incident happens "off stage" in the sacristy no one in the chapel knows exactly what happened. The book shifts from that event, seen from the point of view of an unknown woman guest, to the events that led up to the fateful day. As the dark side of one character starts to emerge, the other characters vacillate between believing what they are seeing and doubting their interpretations of events. It was quite clear to me that the baddie was in fact bad, but I can't tell if it was a deliberate authorial choice to have the audience clued in before the characters. It didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story, but I'd love to know for sure.

I saw a blurb that referred to the genre this book belongs to as "domestic suspense" and that seems like a good descriptor. That's not necessarily a category I vibe with, but I did enjoy this book so maybe I like the genre more than I think. I'd read another book by Hepworth if I find one available at the library.

Currently Reading
(as of October 6)

  

I first learned about This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom a couple of years ago on the "Why Is This Happening?" podcast. It made enough of an impression on me that I ended up buying the ebook when it was on sale last summer. Looking forward to some thought-provoking reading about how to make the most of life on Earth if one doesn't believe in the reward of an afterlife as motivation to do good.

And because I anticipate that might not be the best book to read when I'm tired, I'm also reading Raise Your Hand: Adventures of an American Springsteen Fan in Europe. The experience of Springsteen in concert in Europe, especially Italy, Spain and Scandinavia, is legendary among fans and since I'll never experience that myself (never mind my age and infirmity; Bruce is 73 years old and just postponed the rest of this year's tour dates to deal with peptic ulcer disease) I thought I'd live vicariously through author Caryn Rose, whose writing about all sort of musical artists, not just Bruce, I am familiar with and enjoy.

>51 rosalita: That Lehane book looks good. I'd never looked closely at it do didn't realize what it's setting was. I was in Boston as a college kid from 1973 to 1977. Of course I was very aware of the bussing situation and the racial tensions in the city, though I was out of the way of most of it as a college student. I was at Boston University, though, which is very much an urban campus.

At any rate, the tensions were all around you wherever you went off campus. I was on a light rail train one day, the MTA Green Line. In those days, the cars were rounded in the back, meaning the very back seats were much narrower and cramped than the normal seats. I was sitting on one of those seats on a crowded car when a young black man, about my age, sat down next to me. He was also about my height, over six feet tall. So we were both really scrunched up to try to share the space, but all was well. After a couple of stops, a bunch of people got off, so the car was less crowded and a normal sized seat came free. So this fellow turned to me and said, "I going to move over there to that seat, but it's not because I don't want to sit next to you. It's only because this seat is so jammed up." I said something or other to communicate my understanding and good will, and he moved. I thought to myself that the fact that he even had to say that to me, though, was a sobering testament to the times. That wasn't the end of the story, though, as somebody else on the car had seen him move, assumed that he'd moved because he didn't want to sit next to a white person, and starting yelling at him. So I stood up and began telling this idiot that that wasn't why the fellow had moved, that there was no problem except the one he was creating, and that maybe he should mind his own business. So then this blockhead started yelling at me and threatening me as well. I had about six inches of height and plenty of reach on the guy, so I wasn't overly concerned. At any rate, my new friend got off the train first, and as he did, he turned to me and laughed and said, "Watch out for this guy," pointing at my new antagonist. I just waved a salute at him and said, "I think I'll be OK." And except for an occasional glare, the newest racist fool in my life quieted down, as well. Throughout all this, nobody else on the train evinced any interest. It was just another confrontation in racist Boston.

>83 rosalita: I got to go to the recent Springsteen show at the Meadowlands in New Jersey which turned out to be the Springsteen's final performance before the rest of the tour was canceled. I hadn't been to one of his shows in at least 15 years. It was clear something was off at the Meadowlands, though I couldn't tell whether it was just age catching up to him or if there was some other issue. It was still an enjoyable performance, especially during the final few numbers, but there was a stiffness about his movements and in a few of the numbers the band was discernibly out of step, something generally unthinkable in a Springsteen/E Street Band show. I hope he's able to heal and make up the canceled shows.

>84 rocketjk: Thanks for sharing your Boston story, Jerry, and glad that all turned out well on the train. I think the saddest part to me is your last comment: nobody else on the train evinced any interest. It was just another confrontation in racist Boston.

And I'm glad you were able to see Springsteen before the rest of the tour was postponed. I resigned myself when tickets went on sale that I was going to have to sit this one out. The combination of the "dynamic" pricing and the fact that the closest show was 5 hours away kept me on the sidelines. Ah well, it's been a good run since my first show at Soldier Field in Chicago in 1985. I treasure the memories and friends I made over 30 shows since then.

>85 rosalita: I, too, had decided that I'd seen my last Springsteen concert. My memories go back to my first show at Seton Hall University in New Jersey in 1974 (I was home from college for spring break of my freshman year), the many shows I saw during my subsequent college years, and the several fine performances I've seen in the intervening decades. But an old buddy called me up and said he had an extra ticket for me for the Meadowlands show, and did I want it. It was more the chance to see one more Springsteen show with my friend (we go back to junior high days) than just to see one more Springsteen show that decided me on accepting. 30 shows is a good body of work! I think I'm right around there, as well.

"The dogs on these streets howl 'cause they understand."

>86 rocketjk: When a ticket falls into your lap like that, and the stars align to be able to experience on more show with an old friend, you have to go for it! I wish I'd gotten turned on to Springsteen's music sooner, but I literally never listened to anything but country music until I went to college in 1982.

At least the country I listened to was the good stuff — Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, etc. I vividly remember the first pop/rock song I ever actually listened to (as opposed to it being background music somewhere) was hearing "Roxanne" by The Police blasting from a dorm window on the Michigan State University campus, closely followed by Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry." A friend gave me a (vinyl) copy of Born to Run for my birthday that year and the rest is history.

53. Raise Your Hand: Adventures of an American Springsteen Fan in Europe by Caryn Rose.

Rose, a music journalist and avid fan of Bruce Springsteen (among other artists), recounts an 18-day adventure in the summer of 2012 when she and a companion traveled from the US to Europe to catch seven Springsteen concerts in five countries. There are some thoughtful insights into how European audiences differ from those in the US, but picking them out amidst the detailed descriptions of the logistical scheming required to get as close to the stage as possible in "the pit," otherwise known as the general admission standing-room-only ticketing area on the floor of arenas and stadiums, is probably only worthwhile for diehard Springsteen fans looking for tips to maximize their own chances. As much as I love Bruce, reading about queuing at the venue up to 24 hours before a concert, eliminating any opportunity to sightsee or actually experience the cities you are visiting, sounds exhausting even if the payoff was getting to touch Bruce's leg once during a concert. Not only am I now too old for that crap, I'm pretty sure I was born too old to ever think it would be fun.

Currently Reading
(as of October 11)

  

It turns out a book about the ultimate meaning of life on earth This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom is not a quick read. To break up the heavy mental lifting it requires I'm adding in a seasonal read, Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which I've had for ages and never read.

"Not only am I now too old for that crap, I'm pretty sure I was born too old to ever think it would be fun."

Same, my friend, same.

>90 katiekrug: Right?! Seems like it would turn what should be fun and joyous into a slog. And if I'm not willing to do it for Bruce ...

>88 rosalita: I'm pretty sure I was born too old to ever think it would be fun I had to laugh at that comment. That's been my attitude since way back when.

>92 MissWatson: I'm so glad to have you and Katie on my side in this, Birgit!

Although my wife and I did wait in line for about 4 hours (not 24) to get tickets for Shakespeare in the Park's Hamlet a couple of months back. It was in Central Park (NYC), though, and we sat in the sun on picnic blankets. I guess the enjoyment value of waiting online for 24 hours to see Springsteen would vary with the weather and the people in line near you. I could see doing that once, maybe (I never have, to be clear, though I've been to a lot of Springsteen shows) but not every day of my trip across Europe.

>94 rocketjk: The weather question was the thing that really struck me about Caryn Rose's account — one of the places she did this was Hyde Park in London, where it had been raining all summer and the grass field was just a mud pit. And it poured down rain all day leading up to and during the concert. She did make meeting fans from all over Europe sound enjoyable so there's that, at least. I'd just as soon meet those fans while sitting down in an actual seat and not standing ankle deep in mud, though.

Daily Deal



I'm still reading (and enjoying) the books in >89 rosalita: but I wanted to pop in here and say that Stephen King's The Shining is on e-sale for $1.99 today at all the usual places: Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Apple Books and Google Books.

I first read The Shining when I was 18, sitting alone late at night in an empty newsroom waiting for high school basketball coaches to call in their game scores, and it scared the bejeebers out of me. I read it again a few years back and it had the same effect, especially the scene in the hotel hallway with the fire hose (IYKYK).

>96 rosalita: Thanks, but as the world's biggest wimp I think I'll give this one a miss :D

>97 Jackie_K: I can totally respect that decision, Jackie — it is not for the faint of heart, that's for sure!

>98 rosalita: I think I'll keep hold of my bejeebers as long as I can!!

>99 Jackie_K: :-D

I hope you are feeling better, Julia.

>101 BLBera: I am, Beth. Still disappointed to have missed seeing you and Kerri. I hope you had a good time at the book festival.

54. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.

My first encounter with the weird, wonderful mind of Shirley Jackson was in junior high school, when we read her infamous short story "The Lottery." I'm still (happily) shocked that was an approved thing to read, especially in today's atmosphere of "protecting" students from uncomfortable subject matter.

Since then, I've read The Haunting of Hill House, which was a satisfyingly creepy Halloween read in 2015. I don't know what's taken me so long to read another Jackson book, but I recently came across We Have Always Lived in the Castle lurking on my e-reader and — what do you know? — it's October again.

Castle isn't a traditional spooky read, since there aren't any ghosts or supernatural elements but it will still make the hair on the back of your neck stand up at times, what with its mass poisoning of an entire family and a narrator who is, to use the technical term, batshit crazy. I was concerned whether the book would have the desired effect on me since I had absorbed the general outlines of the story at some point through the years, but I am here to say that I was fully enthralled in the narrative despite that.

I hope it won't be eight more years before I read more from Ms. Jackson.

>103 rosalita: A favorite that I re-read from time to time. And it's probably time...

>104 laytonwoman3rd: It's so good, Linda. I had high hopes, but it exceeded my expectations for a cracking good read.

Do you have any recommendations on my next Shirley Jackson read?

I'm guessing everyone of our generation read The Lottery in secondary school (I think it was 7th grade for me, but not positive). Did you also watch a short film adaptation? I can still picture the face of the main character as she is about to ... well, you know. I agree: it's surprising it was approved course material but I'm totally in favor of it.

We did have a good time, Julia, and found some good food and drink as well. And, I only bought one book!

>106 lauralkeet: I'm pretty sure it was 7th grade for me as well, Laura. I didn't know about the film adaptation — I bet that was intense. From your description, I'm picturing the face of a white womn in the famous picture of the protests of the black students who de-segregated a Little Rock High School. I'm guessing the facial expression might have been similar?

>107 BLBera: Only one book! That's disappointing. :-)

>108 rosalita: actually Julia, it's the victim's face I remember. And I found the video on YouTube! The first instance is at 16:43.
https://youtu.be/s1TV1R1kK9A?si=rajUxIkVHrwWfgvx

Creeps me out, even now.

>110 lauralkeet: Oh, I totally misread your comment! I saved the video to watch in full later but I did skip ahead to see the expression you were talking about — hoo boy! Intense stuff.

>105 rosalita: You've read all the Jackson fiction that I've read...except maybe a couple short stories long ago that I don't recall right now. However, to appreciate a completely different side of her nature, you might try her memoir Life Among the Savages, which as I recall (from way before LT), was really warm and funny.

>112 laytonwoman3rd: Oh, thanks for that — I see there's also a sequel called Raising Demons. I'll have to see if I can get those from the library. And maybe one of the short-story collections as well.

Currently Reading
(as of October 24)

  

I requested Abby's Fire from the Early Reviewers program last month mostly because it is set in Iowa (and as it turns out, right around where I live). I didn't realize (or had already forgotten from the ER description) that it also qualifies as a Spooky Season read, complete with possibly haunted house and (another) family massacre. Good stuff!

And I am still working on This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom which I expect I'll keep saying for a while. It's giving me lots to think about, but it's not a book to rush through.

>112 laytonwoman3rd: I second the rec for Life Among the Savages. I read it years ago and it was delightful.

>115 Copperskye: Thanks for your endorsement, Joanne! My library doesn't have it so I might need to search for a used copy somewhere.

>116 rosalita: You might just double-check your library to see if they have a copy of The Magic of Shirley Jackson, which is an omnibus containing both memoirs and a number of short stories.

>117 laytonwoman3rd: I definitely will — thanks!

Only one - although it was a close thing. Prairie Lights has so much temptation.

>119 BLBera: so much temptation!

>103 rosalita: A couple of Teen Tuesdays ago I read out the first sentence/paragraph of famous classic horror novels to see if they could guess them. They didn't recognize this one, but they were, to a one, 100% sold on the book by the end of the paragraph. I have created a handful of new Jackson readers and I feel very good about that.

>121 scaifea: More Shirley Jackson fans is always a good thing! I'm curious whether any of them mentioned reading "The Lottery" in school? I find it hard to believe it's still being taught as it was in my day but I'd love to be wrong about that.

>122 rosalita: I also read the first few sentences of that short story, and only one of them guessed it. The rest hadn't read it. (Charlie guessed it because of course he did. You think I'd raise a kid to 15 without having made him read The Lottery?! Um, no. (But also I think he did read it in middle school.))

>123 scaifea: I would have been shocked if you *hadn't* made sure Charlie knew it — and happy to hear that he also encountered it at school. You know your assignment! :-)

Hi Julia!



I hope the rest of your week goes well.

>125 karenmarie: Nice to see you, Karen! The same to you.

Currently Reading
(as of October 25)

  

The new entry here is the 19th book in Craig Johnson's first-class Walt Longmire series, The Longmire Defense. Sheriff Walt reaches into the past to investigate a possible murder committed in the years after World War II, and his grandfather's possible involvement. This is one of my favorite series, and so far this one is living up to high expectations.

55. Abby's Fire by Corinne Malcolm Libeling.

After being seriously injured in a devastating house fire, Abby Bennett returns from California to her Iowa hometown to try rebuilding her life. She focuses her attention on helping her sister fix up a house that was left in a mess by the previous renters. Fifty-some years earlier, the house was the scene of a horrific murder whose victims were distantly related to Abby and her sister.

As Abby gets to work stripping wallpaper and painting walls, she is drawn to a mirror hanging over the living room fireplace. Most of the time it reflects the room behind her, but sometimes she sees something else: A cozy domestic scene of a mother and children gathered around a table. Abby realizes that the family only she can see is the one that was murdered all those years ago and they are trying to tell her that the person accused of their deaths is not guilty. But as she starts to investigate the long-ago crime, she begins to sense an evil presence lurking in the deserted house. Is it the real killer, trying to stop her from uncovering the truth? Or is all of this only the product of a mind damaged by the trauma and loss she suffered in the fire?

This is a solid mystery for a debut novel. The author skillfully walks the fine line between "is it ghosts or is she crazy" and I liked that she didn't weasel out by offering up a logical explanation for every seemingly supernatural occurrence. Readers learn early on that Abby may be an unreliable narrator: It's clear there is something off about Abby's version of exactly what happened in the house fire that ended her marriage and drove her back to Iowa. Even though I suspected the broad outlines of what she's hiding, it wasn't so obvious to spoil the reveal.

LibraryThing indicates this is the first book in an intended series. The cast of characters introduced and the setting of a small Iowa town would seem to be able to support continued storylines, although I wonder if they would all be told through Abby's eyes or if other characters would take their turns in the storytelling spotlight. Either way, I'd be happy to read the next book to find out.

(Note: I received an advanced copy of this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchange for a fair and honest review.)

Books in the News

Dagger Awards Adds Categories for ‘Cosy Crime’ and Psychological Thrillers — Interesting article in The Guardian on Friday about the growing popularity of two mystery/crime genres leading to new award categories. If you had asked me before I read this article, I would have assumed those categories already existed, so it's interesting to learn that the Thursday Murder Club series hs had such an impact in a relatively short period of time.

>129 rosalita: That is interesting, Julia. I would have thought both categories were well established...

>130 BLBera: It's hard to believe they weren't, but I suppose maybe the cozy genre fell out of favor for a while and wasn't as "in fashion" as the more hard-boiled crime novels. I enjoy reading both kinds, myself.

>112 laytonwoman3rd: I was amused by Life Among the Savages - especially since there is a story that features an "oscillant chipmunk"

Daily Deal



Erik Larson's superlative history of Winston Churchill during the start of World War II, The Splendid and the Vile, is on e-sale in the U.S. for $2.99 at all the usual places: Kobo, Kindle, Nook, Apple Books and Google Books. This was a read for me back in 2020.

It's important to note that this is not a comprehensive biography of Churchill — it focuses on the first year following Churchill's ascension to prime minister in May 1940, concentrating on the early months of the Blitz. But what Larson covers, he covers meticulously. His attention to detail and accessible writing make him one of my favorite writers of narrative nonfiction, and this one does not disappoint.

>133 rosalita: My reading group read this book a few months back and we all thought it was quite good. What had been unknown to me, as an American, was the squalid, filthy conditions in the bomb shelters. It just had never occurred to me. Overall, yep, I agree this is a very good history.

>134 rocketjk: Thanks for adding your endorsement of the Larson book for anyone on the fence about picking it up.

56. The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson.

This is the 19th book in Johnson's series about Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire, and it's a strong entry for so late in the series. Readers of the last book (Hell and Back) who were put off by the high level of mystical woo-woo can rest assured that we are back on Planet Earth in this one.

In this one, Walt and his undersheriff Victoria Moretti are on the search for a missing woman who disappeared in the back country after abandoning her car. Along the way, Walt solves that mystery and is faced with another, much more personal one when he discovers an old hunting rifle that he believes was used to kill a Wyoming state official 60 years ago. Even more troubling, Walt has good reason to believe that his late grandfather, Lloyd Longmire, was involved in the long-ago crime.

Along the way there are developments on both the personal and the professional fronts for Walt, who has been contemplating retirement for several books now. I suspect this is author Johnson signaling to his readers that Walt will not be with us much longer. If that's the case, I'd be happy to have him go out on the sort of high note he reaches in this book than carry on too long and make it a relief when he finally hangs it up.

58. Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy.

Four tourists, from Germany, America, England and Ireland, are brought together in a tiny village in Greece when a local tragedy upends their travel plans. Each of them is running away from something, and over the course of this slight book we learn their stories. The need to advance four plot lines simultaneously leads to pretty shallow character development and rather too-pat solutions to their "problems," so this isn't my favorite Binchy. Like many of her later books, it's a bit too episodic and disjointed to really pull me in.

I'm pretty sure I had the same reaction to this one, Julia. Her later work just doesn't hit the same way as her earlier books...

>138 katiekrug: I agree, Katie. Even the series of interconnected novels set in contemporary Dublin, much as I enjoy them, don't hit the sweet spot like those decades-spanning coming-of-age sagas like Firefly Summer or Circle of Friends. Those are prime Binchy.

>139 rosalita: - Now I feel like a slacker, because I haven't read either of those (though I loved the film of CoF)!

ETA: I may have read Firefly Summer - the description sounds familiar... But it would have been pre-2001, when I started keeping a faithful record of my books read.

>140 katiekrug: Of the Binchy books I've catalogued on LT, Firefly Summer is my highest rated, with The Copper Beech right behind. CoF would be up there too but I read that one pre-LT. And I really liked Echoes as well, among the older ones.

TCB and Echoes are the ones I know I read, plus some later ones (Tara Road, Quentin's, The Return Journey...).

I need to get back to the series. I think I decided to go that route with Longmire... Too many books and all that. Still, it's good to know that the books are an option. :)

I need to get to those Binchy books that you so kindly gave me.

fwiw, I read Firefly Summer a long time ago and remember enjoying it quite a lot.

>143 BLBera: I hope you enjoy the Longmire books if you decide to continue with them, Beth.

>144 rocketjk: Hi, Jerry. I think that book was Binchy at her best, for sure. Have you read any of her other books?

>145 rosalita: No, I think Firefly Summer was the only one.

>146 rocketjk: Well, you picked the best one, at least!

Currently Reading
(as of November 6)

  

Justin Cronin is best known for his blockbuster post-apocalyptic science fiction The Passage Trilogy, which I read and liked okay. But the Cronin book I really resonated with was The Summer Guest, which couldn't be more different in tone and quality. It's a multi-generational saga set at a remote fishing camp in Maine, and it got from me in 2012 (you can find my original review here). Mary and O'Neil is much more in the vein of the latter, and I'm looking forward to a nice palate cleanser after a crime-intensive few months.

The Cronin sounds good (The Summer Guest).

>149 BLBera: I think you would love it, Beth.

I have TSG and MaO on my shelf 🙂

>151 katiekrug: What are you waiting for, Katie? ;-)

>152 rosalita: - Dunno!

Happy LL99 Day!

>154 katiekrug: And the same to you! I could have done better today, but I've also done much worse so I guess I should be happy with 4/6.

>155 rosalita: - I was rolling until the last question...

>156 katiekrug: I got that one thanks to my obsessive newspaper reading — it stuck in my brain because I hadn't realized that was the new name for that particular company.

>157 rosalita: - Yeah, maybe I should read more articles rather than just skimming headlines :-P

>158 katiekrug: :-D

57. Louis L'Amour Collection by Louis L'Amour (narrated by Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings).

I actually listened to this short-story collection before finishing Nights of Rain and Stars but because it was squirreled away in the Libby app on my phone I forgot to add it to LT. I went through a Westerns phase as a kid but haven't read much in that genre since — unless you count Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire series or Tony Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn series. I really don't because they are set in modern times and not in the "Wild Wild West".

I freely admit my main reason for borrowing this from the library was the novelty of Willie Nelson as the narrator, and the concept of the stories being turned into radio plays featuring the voices of Willie's other Highwaymen supergroup colleagues Cash, Kristofferson and Jennings. Disappointingly, only one of the stories (Riding for the Brand) got the dramatization treatment but it was very well done. All of the famous folk acquitted themselves well with their parts, especially Kristofferson (though that's not surprising considering his extensive acting career in addition to his singer-songwriter gig). And Willie was quite good as the narrator — he had a relaxed, easy reading style that fit the material beautifully.

All in all, I wish the whole collection had featured all four music stars but the one story that did was great, and the other stories were very good, assuming you enjoy western stories.

Currently Reading
(as of November 19)

    

I've read one other book by P.D. Viner, The Last Winter of Dani Lancing. I discovered this author via Twitter because I follow his wife, linguist/professor Lynne Murphy — she wrote one of my favorite books about language, The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between American British English. I thought Dani Lancing (his first novel) was uneven but promising and I'm hoping this one is at least as good.

ETA one that I forgot: After listening to the Louis L'Amour collection I got nostalgic about my days reading westerns, and in particular Looped Lariats, which I read when I was almost certainly much too young for it. One scene in particular (and pretty much nothing else) stood out in my memory and I had to find it among the chaos that is my bookshelves and give it a re-read.

>160 rosalita: Not a big fan of Westerns, but the Outlaws reading one does sound like fun. Big plans for Thanksgiving?

>162 BLBera: No plans for Thanksgiving! I hope you have a good holiday with Scout and the Gang.

Hi Julia!

I loved The Summer Guest! I went to see Justin Cronin at the Tattered Cover before The Passage was published and was so disappointed when he said he was heading in a different direction with his books. I did read The Passage and liked it well enough but it was a lot of book and I never continued the series.

I have a copy of Mary & O'Neil somewhere. I should read it.

>164 Copperskye: I read The Passage before I read anything else by Cronin, and I could hardly believe The Summer Guest could possibly have been written by the same person! Far be it from me to tell him how to live his life, but I can't help feeling like he's wasting his talents writing convoluted dystopian science fiction. :)

Deal of the Day

Small Mercies was a read for me back in July, and it's on e-sale for $6.99 right now at the usual U.S. sources: Kobo, Kindle, Nook, Apple Books, Google Books.

An excerpt from my review, and a link to the full review on the book page:

The ways that even Mary Pat — as close as this novel comes to a protagonist — speaks about black people is like a bucket of cold water in your face. When the dead teenager turns out to be the son of Mary Pat's black co-worker at the nursing home, she tries and mostly fails to reach out to her with compassion, and is nevertheless surprised when her half-hearted condolences are met with anger and resentment. The gulf between these two women, who have so much in common, cannot be overcome with a clever plot point or one heartfelt conversation. It is bone deep, generations old, and will undoubtedly live on in future generations on both sides.

Well, I hope you have a nice day off, Julia.

I hope your reads are keeping you busy, Julia.

>168 Familyhistorian: Thank you, Meg! I have been reading away but just not posting. Overall, I prefer that to the other way around (lots of posting, no reading). :-)

I also owe some reviews, which will be upcoming shortly...

59. Mary and O'Neil by Justin Cronin.

I've mentioned earlier that I love Cronin's literary fiction, having read The Summer Guest a number of years ago. I expected this book to be a similar experience and it was in some ways, but different in others.

The title characters are a man and woman, a married couple. And you'd think a book named Mary and O'Neil would be a tale of a marriage, and I guess it is, sort of. But the title really should be O'Neil and Kay, because the central relationship is between O'Neil and his sister, and particularly his reliance on Kay to process the grief he feels after their parents are killed when they are young adults. And even that doesn't become clear for some time. Mary doesn't appear until Chapter 3, and she doesn't meet and marry O'Neil until Chapter 8 (in a book of 11 chapters).

None of that is meant to be criticism of the book itself. Once I adjusted my expectations of what it was about, I enjoyed the meandering journey through the lives of Mary, O'Neil and Kay. And the writing is simply gorgeous, as when O'Neil's mother talks to her son at Kay's wedding:

She looked at him, pleasure filling her like water pouring into a vase: her grown son just back from his first two weeks at college, all smooth white teeth and rangy limbs, his eyes glowing with champagne. How had it happened? Why did she miss him so, when he was standing right there?

Or this succinct description of a pregnant women:

Mary is enormous; she is a cathedral, a human aria, a C note held for ten minutes. She feels luminous, beyond gravity; she is gravity itself.

And one more, the moment when O'Neil learns about his parents' fate:

When he opened the door to his room and saw the college chaplain there, and his roommate, Stephen, and then noticed behind them his track coach, talking in a low voice to the dormitory's resident advisor, and their eyes, a luminous chorus of compassion, rose all at once to meet his own where he stood in the doorway with his keys in his hand, he knew something awful had happened, and also what it was; before anyone could speak, a hole appeared in O'Neil's heart where his parents had once been.

>170 rosalita: - Great review, Julia. I have both this one and The Summer Guest in my Kindle stacks.

That last quote you shared... oof. Reminds me a bit of walking into the hospital waiting room and knowing my mom had passed away from the way my aunt and uncle just looked at me.

>171 katiekrug: Thank you, Katie! "their eyes, a luminous chorus of compassion" is just such a beautiful turn of phrase.

>170 rosalita: This does sound good. I'll have to check out Cronin.

>173 BLBera: I think you'd enjoy this one, Beth.

>170 rosalita: Excellent review, Julia. I haven't read any of Cronin's novels but they do sound like something I'd enjoy.

>175 lauralkeet: I think you would like them, Laura. Just make sure you're getting one of his early novels and not the sci-fi dystopian vampire trilogy or his newest, which I believe is also science fiction. A very different writing style in those!

Good to see it was the reads keeping you busy. I mainly visited because of posts on Katie's threads that intimated you didn't want to get into the in death series because it is so long. It is and it's great that it keeps going. I'm on my second read through of the series now. Having said that, it's either a love it or don't series. I've lent the first book to other readers and it left them cold and, if you are one of those, then you wouldn't have to worry about starting a long series.

>177 Familyhistorian: Now that is a unique pitch for starting a new series, Meg: "Go ahead and read the first book, you might not like it and then you won't have to worry about how many books there are!"

I like it. :D

>178 rosalita: - Except like a lot of series, the first couple of books are kind of weak (relatively speaking). I think you need to read at least 4 to see if it works. Luckily, they read fast :)

>179 katiekrug: NOT HELPING, KATIE!

Knowing my local library, they probably don't even have the first four books, which would really let me off the hook. :-)

>180 rosalita: - You're welcome :)

The books are often on sale for Kindle (and, I presume, other e- platforms) so you can keep your eye out.

You're welcome, again.

>181 katiekrug: I'm not buying a single one until I know I'm going to continue with the series. So I need the library to have at least the first four.

Congratulations on your LL victory! I'm so mad I didn't get "Maria."

I've never even heard of a Gibraltar coffee drink...

>183 katiekrug: I totally lucked out with Maria — I had no idea of the context in connection with the moon, so I just thought of the most popular Spanish girl's name I could think of and put that.

I had no chance at the coffee question, since I don't drink the stuff at all. But even so, I am familiar with the names of various coffee drinks and I've never heard of Gibraltar, either.

>178 rosalita: I probably should admit that I read the first in the series about 4 times so far. It is a fast read!

>185 Familyhistorian: Well, if a series is going to have eleventy billion books in it, they ought at least to be fast reads, Meg! My library does have the first book so I've put it on hold. Maybe I'll get to it in 2024...

>186 rosalita: Yay! :)

The Washington Post's Book Club newsletter recently highlighted some of the creative works that will enter the public domain in 2024. Here's the excerpt from the newsletter:

The 95-year copyright limit in the United States is currently crawling through the Roaring Twenties, ejecting all manner of classics into the public domain.

The pillaging of the Hundred Acre Wood started last spring with the horror film “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.” Oh bother, indeed…. And next year, A.A. Milne’s second Pooh collection, The House at Pooh Corner, will enter the public domain, too, making Tigger fair game for the first time. {Side note from Julia: I have seen the trailer for that Pooh horror flick and it is unbelievably creepy and unnerving.}

In fact, this coming Jan. 1 is particularly momentous for U.S. copyright because Mickey Mouse — star of the 1928 classic “Steamboat Willie” — will finally scurry out of the Magic Kingdom (kind of). No single company is more responsible than Disney for getting Congress to create our ridiculously long copyright term — what’s referred to as “The Mickey Mouse Protection Act.” (Blame Sonny Bono, too.)

According to Jennifer Jenkins, director of Duke Law School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, here are some of the literary treasures that will be set free in the U.S. on Jan. 1, 2024:
* Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie.
* The Mystery of the Blue Train, by Agatha Christie.
* Dark Princess, by W.E.B. Du Bois.
* Lady Chatterley’s Lover, by D.H. Lawrence.
* Decline and Fall, by Evelyn Waugh.
* Orlando, by Virginia Woolf.

I think I've only read the Agatha Christie book on this list, although I have a vague memory of reading excerpts from the D.H. Lawrence in a high school lit class (obviously not the "good" parts). But there are several here that I'd like to read, such as the Waugh and the Du Bois. And maybe even Peter Pan. And having ebooks available for free would make that even more likely to happen.

What about you? Which of these books are on your "already read" or "want to read" lists? Does their entering into the public domain affect your decision to read or not?

>188 rosalita: I think I've read them all but the Du Bois, and I don't think I'd even heard of that one before (which makes me feel very...caucasian). It'll be interesting to see what happens with/to Peter Pan...

>189 scaifea: It'll be interesting to see what happens with/to Peter Pan...

I'm sorry to say that my first thought was, "If ever there was a children's book begging to have a porn version made, it's got to be Peter Pan." I mean, right? Is it just me?

>190 rosalita: BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh my.

>191 scaifea: 😏

>188 rosalita: They made a horror film with Winnie the Pooh? Is the Du Bois book a work of fiction?

>193 Familyhistorian: Hi, Meg! Yes, there's a horror movie version of Winnie the Pooh. Here's the trailer, if you dare: https://youtu.be/Ud-FBr74K8o?si=Un7eUM1sPAVr_jA0

And the Du Bois is a novel, though I don't know much about it.

Hi Julia! Just checking back in after being mostly absent for a week or so. Interesting about what's entering the public domain. I haven't read any on the list you included...

I think I'll be skipping the horror Pooh :)

>195 katiekrug: It's good to have you back on the homestead, Katie! The trailer for the Pooh horror flick was quite enough for me, and I'm not even a particularly fervent Pooh fangirl.

By the way, I read my first Tessa Dare thanks to you (The Duchess Deal).

"By the way, I read my first Tessa Dare thanks to you"

AND?!?!

>197 katiekrug: It was good! I'd like to read more, but my library's availability is all over the place. Do the books in any of the series have to be read in order, or are they just loose groupings without a lot of character/plot carryover from one to the next?

>198 rosalita: - Oh, phew! Recommending books is so fraught!

I don't think you need to read them in order. There is little to no plot carry-over, and while some characters reappear in multiple ones, it's all very straightforward. I read the Girl Meets Duke series out of order and it didn't affect my enjoyment at all. I loved them all.

>199 katiekrug: OK, that is good news. I don't think my library has a complete set of any of the series, so if I can just mix and match that will be easier.

So, what should I read next? The other one I think you mentioned on your thread was Any Duchess Will Do.

>200 rosalita: - ADWD is a great one. It was the first of the Spindle Cove series I read (out of order). I've now read the 3 available Girl Meets Duke ones and #1,2, and 4 of Spindle Cove. I think that's all so far.

>201 katiekrug: Excellent! I can get that one from the library.

I don't think you'll be disappointed.

For Tessa Dare, I really liked A Week to Be Wicked (paleontology, road trip) and When a Scot Ties the Knot (fake fiance who turns out to be real) - just in case you were looking for recs

*edited to fix the name of the first book!

>204 Caramellunacy: I am definitely looking for recommendations — thanks for those! I'll check to see if the library has those two.

>190 rosalita: Your mind works in interesting ways, Julia.

It's always interesting to see what people do with established works.

Happy New year!

>206 BLBera: "Interesting" is probably the most polite description of how my mind works sometimes!

Happy New Year to you, too.

Happy new year, Julia!

Will you be setting up shop in the 2024 ROOT group? Please post a link here to your new thread, wherever it may be!

Happy new year!

  
60. The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon by Nick West.
63. The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints by M.V. Carey.

I fell behind on my shared read (with Liz) of the middle-grade mystery series featuring the Three Investigators, so this was my attempt at catching up. In the first one, Jupiter, Pete and Bob set out to solve the mystery of missing dogs in a small California coastal town, which may or may not be connected to the appearance of a large coughing dragon in the waters off the coast. It's pretty standard fare for the boys and enjoyable mostly for their interplay.

The second book didn't quite live up to expectations, although it had some promising elements, such as a mysterious old potter who goes missing and the convenient arrival of his grown daughter and her teenage son, who is just the right age to throw his lot in with Jupe and the boys to solve the mystery. That's all fine, but the answer to the mystery lies in yet another fictional Eastern European country (this is at least the third, I think, in the first 15 books of the series, no doubt reflecting the Cold War era in which they were written). The biggest irritation, however, was that the boys never actually solve the mystery of the flaming footprints! I mean, they find out who was doing it but the extreme handwaving around the explanation of how they were created was supremely unsatisfying. "It's chemicals!" just isn't the bingo the author seems to think it should be.

>208 katiekrug: I need to brain-dump all of my remaining 2023 reviews first, but I will leave a link here when I'm ready!

>209 Jackie_K: Thanks, Jackie!

61. Looped Lariats by Claude Campbell.

After listening to the Louis L'Amour short-story collection I reviewed in >160 rosalita:, I got a hankering to revisit this Western I first read when I found it on our family's bookshelves as a kid. As I mentioned earlier upthread, one scene in particular (and pretty much nothing else) stood out in my memory and I wondered if it would have the same effect on me as an adult.

The short answer is not quite, but it was still quite affecting. And the plot line — powerful evil rancher plots to kill or drive out the other nearby ranchers, giving himself control of the entire valley — wasn't exceptional. The main character, a drifter named Rainey passing through who gets drawn into the fight against his will, was appealing enough but none of the characters was fleshed out enough to make you feel much about them or their eventual fates. And there were some glaring inconsistencies in the plot (in one scene Rainey has a falling out with the local sheriff who tells him to leave town and not come back, and then a few scenes later they are teaming up against the bad guy with no mention of their previous disagreement) that drove Adult Julia a little bit nuts.

The two most interesting things have nothing to do with the narrative, though. First, as you can see in that cover image (a bad shot taken by me of my hard copy) the author's name is listed as "Claude Campell" on the cover and the title page even though everything I found online indicates his name is actually Claude Campbell. How on earth does that get through Quality Control?!

And second, in my research to figure out this guy's actual name I found out he has a much more interesting life story than having written this book. In fact, this was his one and only Western. He didn't publish another book until he retired. So what was he doing before that? From his website:

Claude Campbell, professor, union activist, artist, and world traveler, has also written several books. Starting at a young age with a western,“Looped Lariats”, his work and family took up most of his time until he retired from the City University of New York, College of Staten Island, in 1984. Then Abou and the Angel Cohen was the first novel published after his retirement. He traveled the country with his wife Audrey, gathering material for a Civil War novel. Meanwhile, he dabbled in oil painting, taking classes and becoming rather accomplished.

Campbell died in 2015 after publishing three more books: the aforementioned Civil War novel, Cry War"; a spy thriller "Haphazard" and a domestic novel "In a Yellow Wood". Neither of those last two are catalogued in LibraryThing.

62. The Call by P.D. Viner.

A thriller with a promising premise — a wife calls her husband for help after she kills a man — but the facts were doled out so sparingly that I was more impatient than curious to find out the whole story. And it was written with a series of cliffhangers that would have worked fine if it was published as a series of magazine installments but fell flat in a novel. Ultimately, none of the people in the book, good or evil, seemed to have much in the way of redeeming or even interesting characteristics, and the plot got increasingly absurd as the book went on until it finally spent itself in exhaustion and sputtered to an end.

I'm saving my last review of 2023 for my 2024 thread, since few people are likely to find it here now. So with that, please come join me if you are so inclined!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/356629