So Many Books...........

I think I will list "books read" each month with a tiny review. I'm not the writer my daughter is, so won't try to give more than a brief outline of the story - as I write it when I've finished each book. So here goes.


 Necessary as Blood - Deborah Crombie - The most recent of Crombie's books, and a good one. Kincaid and Gemma are back again - There is a missing mother, a murdered father and a sweet little girl. Gemma is very taken with the little girl - and Gemma and Kincaid are about to be married - maybe.


A Lonely Death - Charles Todd - This is the first Todd book I've read in a long time. I began to tire of Rutledge and "Hamish" after the first six books, but this was a fast read, and interesting. Someone is killing the young men in a village by garroting, and it looks as if it has something to do with their service in WWI.


Fearful Symmetry - Morag Joss - The second of her books I've read, and to me not as good as the first. This one was funny in places, but the "mystery" took a long time to develop. Sara Selkirk - the heroine of the first book - is a cellist. This story concerns a "community opera" written by an unknown composer, a composer who will remain unknown, and an unruly bunch of performers. Sara and Andrew, who is probably the least involved Detective Inspector I ever read about, are the star-crossed lovers.


A Change in Altitude - Anita Shreve - A couple living in Kenya climb Mt. Kenya. There is a tragic accident that leads to problems with the young couple. A depressing story, not helped by my reading it while down with pneumonia!


Bury Your Dead - Louise Penny - How I do love reading these books! Having lived in Quebec and recognizing some of the locations makes the stories even more interesting to me. This one weaves three threads of mystery - a terrorist plot, finding the burial place of Champlain and discovering a killer.


The Season of Second Chances - Diane Meier - A debut novel about a woman professor who decides to change her life by changing jobs - from teaching at Columbia University to teaching at Amhurst - buys a Victorian house that is a definite fixer-upper - becomes involved with various men and finds her life quite changed. A fun, quick read.


Whistling in the Dark - Lesley Kagen - Another first novel about two little girls in a very dysfunctional family in 1959. Something of a mystery, but more about growing up and discovering life. Not a comfortable read.


Up at the Villa - W. Somerset Maugham - A real change of pace. One of Maugham's well-known short novels about an English woman - a young widow - living in Florence who is trying to decide whether she should accept a proposal from a much older man. She gets into some rather terrible difficulties, and finds she needs the help of a somewhat disreputable younger man. A quick read that was recently made into a movie starring Sean Penn.


Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel - Oh my. This is a great book. Winner of the Man Booker Prize for 2009. Excellent historical novel concerning the reign of Henry VIII during the time Anne Boleyn becomes Queen. Told from the view of Thomas Cromwell. I enjoyed this long book!


The Tiger in the Smoke - Margery Allingham - Written in 1952 this Campion mystery is still intriguing, and not too dated. Campion is older in this story, not as "posh", and not the central character as he is in Allingham's earlier books. 


Silence of the Grave - Arnaldur Indridason - The second of Indridason's Icelandic mysteries I've read. Similar to the Swedish Mankel stories, but this one at least is much less violent and more character-driven. This story concerns Erlandur's daughter, a skeleton discovered in the foundation of a new house and a long-ago mysterious disappearance.


The Fugitive Wife - Peter C. Brown - Good story set in 1900 during the gold rush to Nome, Alaska. A woman fleeing her husband finds adventure, new friends and herself. The hardships of the era are detailed and interesting. The gold fever that hit in the mid-1880's and on up into the 1900's was rather amazing. Some of the characters in this story were actual people enhancing the tale.


The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver - Wow! I'm cheating a bit because this is February 1st and I just finished this wonderful book. I bought Kingsolver's latest novel back in the fall, but kept pushing it aside as I didn't enjoy her last two books very much. This one is terrific. I'm not going to tell anything about it because I think it needs to be discovered by each reader without a review or even telling a bit about what it is about. Just know that it is one of the best I've read in years.

Books

The year is almost over, and this is the first time I've kept track of all the books I've read this year. I don't know if this is my usual amount, but it does seem as if it's quite a few - 


My top favorites in the order they were read:
When Will There be Good News - Kate Atkinson
Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson
South of Broad - Pat Conroy


The following books I marked VG for very good:
The Brutal Telling - Louise Penny
Booked to Die - John Dunning
Caught in the Light - Robert Goddard
The Bookwoman's Last Fling - John Dunning
Sight Unseen - Robert Goddard
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford
The Eleventh Man - Ivan Doig
The Princes of Ireland - Edward Rutherfurd
Loving Frank - Nancy Horan
Work Song - Ivan Doig
Jumping the Queue - Mary Wesley
The Summer Guest - Justin Cronin
Faithful Place - Tana French
That Old Cape Magic - Richard Russo
In Pale Battalions - Robert Goddard
This Body of Death - Elizabeth George
Never Change - Elizabeth Berg
The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova
Bad Boy - Peter Robinson
Home Safe - Elizabeth Berg
Coventry - Helen Humphreys
Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese
Lake of Sorrows - Erin Hart
Plots and Errors - Jill McGown
The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag - Alan Bradley
Day After Night - Anita Diamant
When She Flew - Jennie Shortridge


These books were good reads, but not terrific:
Coastliners - Joanne Harris
One Handful of Earth - Ellie Gunn
Garden Spells - Sarah Addison Allen
Not in the Flesh - Ruth Rendell
Suspicious Origin - Patricia MacDonald
Headcase - Peter Helton
The Wood Beyond - Reginald Hill
Fete Fatale - Robert Barnard
Abide With Me - Elizabeth Strout
Who Guards a Prince - Reginald Hill
Heart and Soul - Maeve binchey
The Grave Tattoo - Val McDermid
Rose - Martin Cruz Smith 
The Sign of the Book - John Dunning
The Lost Mother - Mary McGarry Morris
Vanish - Tess Gerritsen
The Broken Shore - Peter Temple
Shanghai Girls - Lisa See
The Far Country - Nevil Shute
Down River - John Hart
Maisie Dobbs - Jacqueline Winspear
Tug of War - Barbara Cleverly
Tooth and Nail - Ian Rankin
Grasshopper - Barbara Vine
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
Messenger of Truth - Jacqueline Winspear
Long Time Coming - Robert Goddard
The Breaker - Minnette Walters
Holy Terror - Josephine Bolton
The Shadows in the Street - Susan Hill
Sacrifice - S.J. Bolton
The Rest of Her Life - Laura Moriarty
Jar City - Arnaldur Indridason
The Water Clock - Jim Kelly
Good Harbor - Anita Diamant
The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff
Scared to Live - Stephen Booth
Cold Case - Kate Wilhelm
Among the Mad - Jacqueline Winspear
The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters
The Dead of Winter - Rennie Airth
The Complaints - Ian Rankin
The Art of Racing in the Rain- Garth Stein
On the Night Plain - J. Robert Lennon
Black and Blue - Ian Rankin


I had problems with very few books - and only have one that I didn't finish. 
Lights Out Tonight - Mary Jane Clark  (this I gave an ok to - not a G for good)
Wish You Were Here - Stewart O'Nan ( D for dull)
Crooked Little Heart - Anne Lamott - (G? - not sure if it rated a G)
Found Wanting - Robert Goddard - the title says it all
The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood - I'm just not a fan of hers and skimmed a lot


And the one I did not finish:
Five Quarters of an Orange - Joanne Harris - I read half of the book; decided I just didn't like the main character enough to continue reading. 


So there you have it. I believe that is 84. I'll have time to read one more before the end of the year!

Oregon Weather and Salmon

Fall has definitely arrived to the Oregon coast, after one of the shortest summers ever! We had no days where the temp got above 70, and few days where it was even in the high 60s. Everyone commented on the sunny days - they were so unusual. And now the rains have begun again. It has rained every day for the past week, and came down in buckets yesterday when the annual Salmon Bake was taking place in the community park. Eleven bus-loads of senior citizens came down from Portland for the event, and stood in the rain to get their salmon.

The salmon is cooked in the Indian fashion on stakes over open coals of alder wood. The salmon is filleted and then woven onto the stakes - so that it is smoked while it roasts. Wonderful! I hope everyone went home with smiles in spite of the weather.

The Kids Zone had a table of desserts to sell, and hubby was there in the rain selling his cards to raise money for the Kids Zone. He did pretty well considering most people weren't too enthusiastic about standing there getting wet while he gave his spiel! His next big sale will be the two days after Thanksgiving, and will be at a craft fair indoors. We'll hope he'll make lots of money for the kids in Depoe Bay! He spends hours every day getting the cards and gift tags put together. It's a hobby that has become an obsession! But it does raise money for the Zone.

Lazy Days of Summer?

These aren't really summer days, but I'm certainly feeling lazy! There are things I plan on doing every morning, but I find I'm reading instead of ironing, or dusting or even cooking. I have accomplished very little this week. I think one of the reasons might be because the calendar for the week was completely empty for a change. No appointments for anything. No reason to get in the car and drive someplace. So I've been reading. Next week it will all change - and I'll be busy again - maybe!

This Body of Lies

It's always satisfying to read a new book by an author you've enjoyed over the years. The first Elizabeth George book I bought was in a book store in Trafalgar Square many years ago. At the time I assumed that George was a British writer since the books were based in England. At any rate, I've always liked her books, although as A Garden Carried in the Pocket noted, the last two weren't as good. I have liked the TV series, but never felt that Lynley was cast properly and Havers was much too pretty! But when I found I could order This Body of Lies from The Book Depository I jumped at it.

It's a hefty book - 594 pages - and it took me a week to read it, even though I stayed up late reading. It is very good. The 'mystery' is quite involved, but the characters make the story.

Now it's on to another author I learned about on a blog - Susan Hill. I've read some of her books already, and this is her latest, I believe - The Shadows in the Street. What fun to have good books waiting on the shelf! And the bonus of bloggers telling about new authors.

Computing

I seem to have trouble getting comments to my blog onto my blog. Does that make any sense at all? I had two comments waiting to go onto the blog, and thought I had let them "in", but only one made it!


Our computers weren't able to get connect to the Internet this morning, so poor hubby had to crawl around on the floor and turn things on and off. Then the emails and Internet returned and made us happy. We got some great pictures of our granddaughter who is in Argentina on a study-abroad program for the summer. We'll get to hear all about it when we visit the family in Honolulu this fall!

Reading Joys

 Lesley gave me a book years ago in which I started writing about the books I had read, but I'm not very disciplined and I soon got 'way behind and quit. When I discovered I was buying and re-reading books I had read years ago I decided the time had come to do better! So this year I've read forty-eight books and have given them a rating and a few brief words telling about the book. It has been something of an eye-opener. I have read mostly mysteries - not thrillers - but have a couple of 'chunkers' mixed in, and one that I just couldn't get into. There have been no non-fiction books, but that is by choice. I'm pretty old, and think that I should just enjoy reading and not try to become too enlightened by what I read. Non-fiction requires a lot of thinking, and I'm more into entertaining books!

 I still try to keep up with the news, and read a news magazine every week, but we have even given up our daily newspaper. This was not my choice, but our paper has become very expensive with very little real 'meat' to it. So dear husband said we should no longer buy it daily. We do get the Sunday paper, and that is one of my favorite times of the week. I love the lazy time of reading every section, and cutting out articles on travel and finance - some that I send to my children - whether they want them or not!

Since I volunteer at our library book sale every week I have a plethora of books to choose from. We have a good library, but can only check out books for two weeks. I usually finish a book within a week or less, but don't like having a deadline. So each week I take books back to be sold, and come home with a bag full of new books. Last week I brought four books home and discovered that one is written by the writer on the top sellers this month - Justin Cronin, the author of The Passage. The book I'm reading now is his second novel, I think, and I'm finding it quite enjoyable. Several weeks ago The Passage was in our "tall books" or trade paperback section and I grabbed it - for $1.00! I'll read it later this year, but after I finish Cronin's The Summer Guest, I'll read another mystery!