What are you reading now?: May 9, 2026.

Wrapping up Psychedelia and working on Flying to Victory. Volatile Memory will follow.

Rn I'm in the middle of Black Butterflies and stuck on the begging's Steve Welsh Porn

I'm reading Hexes Go Well with Tequila by Leanna Ehrsam and it's been fun so far.

I'm about 3/4 through the slow but interesting Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, an anthopological history of an early 14th-century village in what would eventually become the French Pyrenees (but was at that time in a somewhat independent principality.

Just finished Tam Lin by Pamela Dean and started Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip, keeping in the Tam Lin theme for both. Next up will be Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner.

I'm in the middle of The Gate of the Feral Gods and only about a quarter of the way into Daindreth's Empress.

I finished Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, a history and anthropological study of a village in the French Pyrenees in the early 14th century that was pieced together from the transcriptions of interviews done at the time by an inquisitioner intent on stamping out the "heresy" of the Cathar sect of Christianity. It's a fascinating (if occasionally a bit dry) study of a small, remote village and many of the individuals who lived there 700 years ago. My full review is on the book's work page and my Club Read thread.

Next up for me will be A Fool's Errand by "One of the Fools" (a.k.a. Albion Tourgee), a novel about (and written during) the post-American Civil War "Reconstruction" period.

Started from the library: A Ghastly Catastrophe by Deanna Raybourn
The 10th and latest installment in the "Veronica Speedwell Mystery" series.

>3 PaperbackPirate: I had to double-check on what that book is about, as with that title it could have just as likely been about relationships between board-game players!

What Ever Happened to Eddy Crane? A Memoir and a Murder Investigation
Kate Crane
4/5 stars
This is the true story of Kate Crane's father, Eddy Crane and the lengths that she went to find her missing father. This book was a great book and interesting! Non-Fiction

Almost Friends – Philip Gulley
3.5 ***

UPDATED on second reading.

I love Gulley's style. His writing simply calms and inspires me; and he makes me laugh out loud.

This is book six in the Harmony series, featuring Sam Gardner, the Quaker pastor of the Harmony Friends Meeting. As usual, Sam is worrying about his flock, in particular the two hornets that are the bane of his existence – Dale Hinshaw and Fern Hampton. Dale has decided the meeting is not evangelizing as it should, so he takes it upon himself to fix that. And Fern has her undies in a bundle of the Friendly Women’s Circle Chicken Noodle dinner.

But Sam has other worries. His father has had a heart attack, and Sam asks for a sabbatical so he can help his parents. The elders ask the nearby seminary to send a student to be their interim pastor. When Krista Riley arrives they are surprised they got a woman pastor. But she quickly wins (most of) them over. Now Sam is worried they’ll opt to keep her and fire him.

Things will work out, as they always do. And sometimes we just have to trust that the Lord will see us through, and give us the grace to accept the things that surprise us.

I’ve read this one before – in 2008. But I didn’t remember much about the details, just how much I enjoy visiting with the folks in Harmony. I was happy to spend some time with them again.

The new thread is up over here.