2025 September Reading Wrap Up

 

For September, I ready 6 books for a total of 2233 pages in which 2 were new to me authors 

1) Every Summer After by Carly Fortune:  304 pages   3 stars 

"“I fell in love with you when I was thirteen, and I never stopped. You’re it for me.” Sam closes his eyes for three long seconds, and when he opens them, they are glittering pools under a starry sky.”

2) The Book that Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence:  559 pages   3 Stars

“All of us steal our lives. A little here, a little there. Some of it given, most of it taken. We wear ourselves like a coat of many patches, fraying at the edges, in constant repair. While we shore up one belief, we let go another. We are the stories we tell to ourselves. Nothing more.”

3) Neuromancer by William Gibson  304 pages   4 Stars

“His teeth sang in their individual sockets like tuning forks, each one pitch-perfect and clear as ethanol.”

4)  Bel Canto by Ann Patchett  318 pages   4 Stars

“If what a person wants is his life, he tends to be quiet about wanting anything else. Once the life begins to seem secure, one feels the freedom to complain.”

5)  Framed in Death by J.D. Robb  355 pages    5 Stars

“You can respect somebody without loving them, but if you don’t respect somebody you love, it’s never going to hold up.”

6)  Silver and Lead by Seanan McGuire 393  pages   4 stars

“Trauma moves in cycles. We pass it down, one to another, and there’s no time limit on how long that damage can endure.”

Reading Log as of September 15, 2025 - Framed in Death

 

Framed in Death is the 61st book in the In Death series by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) (355) 

Excellent as always with Eve pursuing an artist who kills and dresses up the corpse in authentic clothes to look like masterpiece paintings.  Also Maeve and Peabodies joint house is finally done and reflects their personalities.  Beautifully written and engaging.

"Manhattan is filled with galleries and deep-pocketed collectors who can make an artist's career with a wave of a hand. But one man toils in obscurity, his brilliance unrecognized while lesser talents bask in the glory he believes should be his. Come tomorrow, he vows, the city will be buzzing about his work.

Indeed, before dawn, Lt. Eve Dallas is speeding toward the home of the two gallery owners whose doorway has been turned into a horrifying crime scene overnight. A lifeless young woman has been elaborately costumed and precisely posed to resemble the model of a long-ago Dutch master, and Dallas plunges into her investigation."

February Reading Wrap Up

 

What do all my books have in common this month:  They are either about people finding themselves,  working through grief, or searching for that elusive happily ever after and realizing real life is better.  I read 8 books of which 6 were physical, 2 were ebooks, 4 were new to me authors  and a total of 2603 pages.  I enjoyed  journaling spoilery thoughts about every single one, what I liked, what I disliked, etc.   

What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama: The story was charming and revolved around books which helps the readers solve real life problems. A young girl on her own, learning how to cook and care about herself and take joy in life.  A working mother who faces all kinds of trouble after her baby is born. An accountant learning you can make a new start. An unemployed 30 year old man finally discovering what he was good at. And a retiree figuring out what he liked and enjoyed. Ordinarily I don't like books that reflect real life, but since the story involved Japanese culture and society, it made it more interesting. ****

Bookshops and Bone Dust by Travis Baldree:  Charming and entertaining, Bookshops and Bonedust is the prequel to Legends and Lattes which I haven't read yet, full of anthromorphic animals or not human, in which Viv the orc helps Fern, a rattkin, who is a walking, talking, foul mouthed rat with a pet dog who is a cross between a dog and a bird, fix up her bookstore while trying to solve the mystery of a necromancer. ****

Bonded in Death by J.D. Robb: #60 in the In Death series in which she hits it out of the ballpark.  We learn new things about Summerset and his history and those who were involved in the Urban Wars. *****

The Last Love Note by Emma Grey: A story about grief, love, loss. A story about powering through, resilience, humor, honesty, and family.  Never letting go, but moving forward, finding your way without the love of your life, and somehow falling in love again with the one was right in front of you all along.  I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more. e, ****

Starter Villain by John Scalzi:  Silly and ridiculous and entertaining with intelligent cats, foul mouthed dolphins, and a bunch of villains who try to threaten and cajole their way to a fortune after they’ve dug themselves in a hole, but the starter villain is smarter than they think. ****

You are Here by David Nichols: Some strangers, some friends begin a coast to coast walk from the Irish Sea to the North Sea of England and work through life issues in the process.  The story represented two very flawed, hurt, people not trying to get over bad relationships, until they were put together on this walk.  Was there too much angst, bitterness?  Not exactly. There was a just a right amount of humor to balance the story along with the revelations.  I liked that it didn't end with a happily ever after with all sins forgiven, but a 'let's try' together vibe.  ****

Comfort and Joy by Kristin Hannah:  Joy walks out of her own life, onto an airplane, crashes, walks away from the wreck, and has a bonding experience with a man and his child living deep in the woods. Yet, something is strange about the whole thing. Is is all real or in her imagination?  Once I finished the story, I want to read it all over again.  At the beginning it didn't seem like it, but Comfort and Joy is a charming Christmas story about hope and finding happiness.    e, ****

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore:  Sloane, Maisey, Mateo, Greg, and Arthur. What do all these people have in common.  They've all experienced grief, or trauma in their earlier lives that have caused them to hide their true selves, burying themselves in other peoples lives, their children, their work, their books until one day Sloan decides to become involved in an angry old man's life.  From there, it snowballs, in a good way, until each one together, give each other the strength, the power to make the changes necessary to accept their pasts, and move on into the future. ****

Reading Log as of February 15th

 

J.D. Robb's 60th In Death - Bonded in Death - arrived so I dove in and she hit it out of the park with this one. I really enjoyed the heck out of this episode of Eve and Roark, and learned some new things about Summerset, and those who were involved in the Urban Wars. Fascinating and definitely a five star read. 

Another five star read was The Last Love Note by Emma Grey which was equally good. A story about grief, love, loss. A story about powering through, resilience, humor, honesty, and family.  Never letting go, but moving forward, finding your way without the love of your life, and somehow falling in love again with the one was right in front of you all along.   I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more. One of those stories I'll have to get in paperback to read again. 

Finished John Scalzi's Starter Villain which was silly and ridiculous and entertaining with intelligent typing cats, foul mouthed sentient dolphins, and a bunch of villains who threaten and cajole their way and try to steal a fortune after they've mismanaged and overspent themselves into a hole.  

I'm currently reading Naomi Novik's Black Powder War, #3 in the Temeraire series.  Was going to dive into a Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon but think will stow it on the back burner while I read Alan Moore's The Great When which James surprised me with on Valentine's Day.  

"If this London is what they call the Smoke, then that place is the Fire...

The year is 1949, the city London. Amidst the smog of the capital stumbles Dennis Knuckleyard, a hapless eighteen year-old employed by a second-hand bookshop. One day, on an errand to acquire books for sale, Dennis discovers a novel that simply does not exist. It is a fictitious book, a figment from another novel. Yet it is physically there in his hands. How?

Dennis has stumbled on a book from the Great When, a magical version of London beyond time and space, where reality blurs with fiction and concepts such as Crime and Poetry are incarnated as wondrous, terrible beings. But this other, magical London must remain a secret: if Dennis cannot find a way to return this book to where it belongs, he risks repercussions, such as his body being turned inside out (or worse).

So begins a journey delving deep into the city's occult underbelly and tarrying with an eccentric cast of sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers – some from legend, some all too real, and all with plans of their own. Soon Dennis finds himself at the centre of an explosive series of events that may alter and endanger both Londons forever..."

Les Miserables has taken a back seat to other books this week so need to let it let it ride in the front passenger seat. It's been yelling dibs for a few days. LOL! 

Reading Plans for February

 

Woot! Woot! J.D. Robb's 60th book in the In Death series - Bonded in Death - has arrived and I am fully immersed in the story, wondering how she is going to pick apart the clues and find the murderer. So good....

"His passport read Giovanni Rossi. But decades ago, during the Urban Wars, he was part of a small, secret organization called The Twelve. Responding to an urgent summons from an old compatriot, he landed in New York and eased into the waiting car. And died within minutes…"

My bedtime read is John Scalzi's Starter Villain: 

"Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place.

Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat."

I need to finish Naomi Novik's Black Powder War, #3 in the Temeraire series as well as the rest of All Star Superman because James wants me too. 

James Rollins newest release and #3 in his Moonfall series - Dragons of Blackglass arrives on February 18th so I'm looking forward to starting that one almost immediately.

I really want to dive into A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon which is a chunky one, so will how that goes. 

Les Misérables year long sip read  - I aim to read 5 pages a day which is a total of 95 pages for the month, plus complete journal notes. 

For Super Bowl Sunday, James and I are heading out for our traditionally mother-son shopping trip to Barnes and Noble as well as Game Stop and what ever else store we decide to wander in to.  Breaking my book buying ban for the day, then I promise I will go right back to being good. :)

September Reading Log:

 

September 1:  I currently have Steve Berry’s 4th book in his Cotton Malone series up next – Thc Charlemagne Pursuit.

“As a child, former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone was told that his father died in a submarine disaster in the North Atlantic. But what he now learns stuns him: His father’s sub was a secret nuclear vessel lost on a highly classified mission beneath the ice shelves of Antarctica.

Twin sisters Dorothea Lindauer and Christl Falk are also determined to find out what became of their father, who died on the same submarine–and they know something Malone doesn’t: Inspired by strange clues discovered in Charlemagne’s tomb, the Nazis explored Antarctica before the Americans. Now Malone discovers that cryptic journals penned in “the language of heaven,” conundrums posed by an ancient historian, and his father’s ill-fated voyage are all tied to a revelation of immense consequence for humankind. As Malone embarks on a dangerous quest with the sisters, he will finally confront the shocking truth of his father’s death and the distinct possibility of his own.”

My Q book is The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn which I’m slowly reading right before bed.

Continuing my reread of Patricia Briggs Mercedes Thompson and currently on Smoke Bitten.

Saturday Night Movie:  Watched Oppenheimer tonight which has left me totally exhausted with all the machinations involved.  Enjoyed Fat Man and Little Boy more so than this.

September 4:  #59 in J.D. Robb’s Passion in Death arrived today!

September 8:   I’m currently reading Passion in Death by J.D. Robb which is another pen name for Nora Roberts.  I just stumbled upon Rules of Engagement written by Selene Montgomery which happens to be the pen name for Stacey Abrams who previously served as a state representative for Georgia. Dean Koontz is another favorite author who wrote under several pen names including David Axton, K. R. Dwyer, Richard Paige, and others. Stephen King used Richard Bachman as another pen name while Anne Rice used A.N. Roquelaure or Anne Rampling.   Fantasy author Charles De Lint wrote dark fantasy novels aka horror under the name of Samuel Key which were scary good.

It’s always fun to search out books written under a different pen name by authors because you’ll never know what amazing stories you’ll find.

I finished my reread of the Mercedes Thompson series and picked up on so many things I missed on the last read of each book.  I’m sad to be leaving Mercy’s world, but now I’ve got the urge to delve into Charles and Anna’s world in Alpha and Omega.

Passions in Death was very convoluted.  I couldn’t keep the characters straight, and the story seemed to go on forever and the ending was a bit anticlimactic. Not one I’d read again.  Started Cry Wolf last night and I was tempted to set In Death aside and get back to it later, but decided to finish it as they are always quick reads for me.  Disappointed.

September 12:  The next In Death will be out in Feb 2025.  I watched a youtube discussion yesterday between book tuber Merphy Napier and another book reviewer and she said something that I think I’ll adopt.   The story didn’t vibe with me or it just wasn’t my vibe.  Not very often one of the In Death stories doesn’t vibe for me. I think there are three or four I would never read again just because of the subject matter. Squicky! 

September 13:  My brother just offered to preorder a copy of Jason Pargin's newest book The Black Box of Doom – for me when he ordered his copy.  I had no idea who he was or what he writes. Went online and looked intriguing enough to order John dies at the End while waiting for the new book to come in – . Sounds like a good Spooktacular read.

September 15:  In the midst of my Patricia Brigg’s Alpha and Omega reread. Waiting in the wings is Steve Berry’s Charlemagne Pursuit, Calvino’s Complete Cosmicomics, as well as Japanese author Satoshi Yagisawa’s Days at the Morisaki Bookshop.  Plus I’ll be putting together my plans for our October Spooktacular next month.  Think I have my eyes are bigger than my stomach syndrome.  LOL!

Saturday Night Movie: Watched the 2nd movie in the legacy planet of the apes movies – Beneath  the Planet of the Apes.

September 20:  I’m not sure where I stand with my a to z. I’ll have to go through and see what’s missing.  Probably q and z.  Hee hee.  I’ve just about decided I need to go back on my buying ban for the rest of the year, at least until Christmas, and concentrate on the trilogies I started, for which I have the next two books, and finish those. Plus work through my TBR. Have all these great books, some pretty chunky ones I have been ignoring.  So revising my reading plan. Now I just need to stop downloading all Kindle Unlimited Books and read the ones I have. I keep rotating, adding a new one and deleting odd the oldest whether read it or not,  Slap myself on the hand, Stop that.  

 I just finished The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn. 4.5 stars.  Too much happened to confine to a simple review, with multifaceted characters, from children to grownups, that took place during the tumultuous years of the 1920s through wwII.  I’ll have to ponder for a while as I have a book hangover.

September 21: I’m in the middle of Steven Berry’s 4th book in his Cotton Malone series – The Charlemagne Pursuit which is quite interesting.  Waiting in the wings is Samantha Shannon chunky book – A Day of Fallen Night (Play on the word fall plus fall colors on the cover) which is from the Roots of Chaos duology.

“Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory’s purpose.

To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother’s past is coming to upend her fate.

When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.”

I'm rereading something from my past for my bedtime book – The Ancient One by T.A. Barron with a lot of trees, both on the cover and in the story. (52 books task of the week) 🙂

“When Kate travels to Blade, Oregon, for a quiet week at Aunt Melanie’s cottage, her plans are dashed by the discovery of a grove of giant redwood trees in nearby Lost Crater. For thousands of years, no humans have entered the fog-filled crater–except possibly the Halami people, who lived in the region centuries ago before vanishing without a trace. Long a source of deep mystery, the crater is now a source of conflict, pitting those who see it as the dying mill town’s last hope against those who see it as a rare sanctuary that should be protected.

Caught up in this struggle, Kate follows an old Halami trail into the crater, and suddenly is thrown back in time five hundred years. Accompanied by the trickster Kandeldandel, the loyal Laioni, and the young logger Jody, she meets strange and enigmatic creatures, none more frightening than the volcanic Gashra, bent on destroying everything he cannot control. To defeat him, Kate must find the answer to an ancient riddle–and the courage to make the most difficult choice of her life.”

Saturday Night Movie: Inkheart with Brendan Fraser!

September 24:  I finished #4 in Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone series – The Charlemagne pursuit.  Cotton wants to know what happened to his father who supposedly died in a military submarine accident. His request and receipt of the classified files leads to everyone getting involved from the President on down. Secrets are revealed and an assassin tries to keep those who know the most from talking. And revelations about Charlemagne, cryptic journals about “the language of heaven” and ancient history. All fascinating.  Berry reminds me of James Rollins whose books I really enjoy, so will be working my way through the rest of the Cotton Malone series.

Clearing my reading palate with paperback Amanda Quick’s When She Dreams which is #6 in the Burning Cove series and ebook Ben Aaronovitch’s #6 in his Rivers of London with The Hanging tree.

Then I’ll attack Samantha Shannon’s A Day of Fallen Night.

I’ve been watching videos on annotating my books and now I want to mark up all my books as I read.

September 28:  Reading Pargin’s dark comedy thriller I’m Starting to Worry about This Big Box of Doom right now. Have quite a few ebooks that I’m perusing to see which ones I want to read for October. I know I’ll read only one or two because I’m more of mood reader.  Maybe Karin Slaughter’s Pretty Girls or perhaps Ward’s The Last House on Needless Street.  Physical bookwise have a few Dean Koontz to select from.

Debating  between Dean Koontz 77 Shadow Street and Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves.  I think House of Leaves is winning.

Currently working my way slowly through Louise DeSalvo’s The Art of Slow Writing.

Lied about not adding more books to my shelves.  Scrolling through Instagram and following way too many book bloggers has caused my TBR to grow exponentially.

Saturday Night Movie:  Despicable me 4!!!

January Reading Wrap Up

 

Since my buying ban  is in effect, I read 11 physical books and 9 ebooks for a total of 7690 pages which equals 248 pages a day.  I read during breakfast, lunch, while on the treadmill, and after dinner. We don't watch much television and reading is as necessary as breathing to me.  

The longest book was Aeronaut's Windlass and the shortest was the novella The Pale Dreamer.  My rating system is a mishmash of goodreads and others.  

5 star - Loved the author, and will read anything they publish. Loved the story line, loved the characters.  Couldn't put it down. Made me think. Will read it again. 

4 star - Liked the story.  Liked the characters. Reread 

3 star - Okay story. 

2 star - Meh - disappointed or irritated by characters, storyline, or author's writing. 

1 star - DNF - Not my cup of tea at all, didn't want to continue reading, waste of my time. 

Lyssa Kay Adams - Undercover Bromance  ***  Characters were juvenile for their age. (Men read romance, sexual harassment, justice, 348, e)

Sara Nisha Adams - The Reading List  **** New to me author and look forward to reading more. A story about friendship and grief. A teenage girl working in library for the summer and an elderly gentleman form a friendship over books. Someone, to be revealed later, left a list of books where three different people found them with the note “Just in case you need it” and each book turned out to relate to their life and help them, somehow, someway for the better. Although I’ve already read some of the books, now I want to read them all, keeping in mind the life lessons learned by the characters in the story. A goal for this year, or maybe next. We’ll see how it goes.  (Books, friendship, grief, 373)

Sarah Addison Allen - Other Birds  ***  Coming off of Garden Spells, Other Birds didn't tug on my emotion strings as much as the Waverley's. The characters were poignant, all experiencing abandonment or other issues which affected their lives. As they work through invisible pigeons, ghosts, neglect, grief, and loss, the characters come together to form a family. I'll have to read it again when I can appreciate the story and not compare it to another book.     (Magical realism, South Carolina, Grief, romance, birds, 290)

Marie Brennan - Tropic of Serpents #2 Lady Trent *****  Lady Trent is fascinating and enjoyed the world building and the science and her efforts to discover all she could about dragons. Whether she is navigating the male centric Victorian society to learning from the Moulish natives of Eriga, she puts her all into it. From assimilating into the culture of the palace to living with the native Indians in the swamp land of Green Hell. I love how the Moulish force her to face herself when they make her go through a purification right when she has a string of bad luck and how the guardian of the eggs puts her to the test. And her strength and ingenuity in her test to prove to Yeyuama she could be trusted to protect the dragon eggs. She is continually learning and may stumble, but she'll get right back up again, and forge onward. (Historical Fantasy, Victorian, Dragons, Green Hell, Natives, 331)

Brendan Slocumb - Violin Conspiracy ****  A mystery thriller set in New York and Europe centered around the theft of Ray's Stradivarius. Ray grieves the loss of his violin and possibly the end of his music career, his life and struggles to get where he is presently is revealed in flashbacks of his greedy family, the racism he experiences, his joy of classical music, and the competitive nature of musicians.  (334, e)

R.F. Kuang - Babel: An Arcane History *****  Once I started reading, couldn't put it down. The etymology discussions, how the characters related to the world around them, how the characters grew in knowledge, the choices they made, some good, some bad, the heart wrenching decisions. All of it combined to create a story that made me think and how it related to today's world and why people do the things they do.  (Historical Fantasy, dystopian, oxford, etymology, racism, theme of the week - cliffhanger, 544, e)

Samantha Shannon - The Bone Season #1 / The Pale Dreamer novella  ****  A dystopian world in which magic thrives behind the scenes, but is persecuted by the world. Aliens has taken over an alternative oxford, allowed by the government as a deterrent to an even greater threat. The aliens serve as prison keepers for the magically inclined.  Dark despair pervades the entire story.  (Aliens, magic vs non magic, alternative Oxford, theme of the week  - dystopian, 480, e)

Jenny Colgan - The Bookshop on the Corner **** Charming story about a young woman who takes on the adventure of moving to a new place and starting a book mobile. (Scotland, UK, 368, e)

Ashley Poston  - The Dead Romantics  ****  Another charming story about a ghostwriter who falls in love with a ghost. (Books, ghostwriter, grief, crows, 368)

J.D. Robb - Random in Death #58 In Death series  *****  (Futuristic thriller, murder, police procedural, 368)

J.T. Ellison - Lie to Me *****  Finally dove into the story which lead to me reading every spare minute. Fast paced, psychological thriller and would have never guessed who caused Sutton's and Ethan's marriage to implode. They were both to blame, yet there was someone else hiding in the shadows pulling all their strings. Thrill ride of a story with so many twists and turns, it will make you dizzy.  (Psychological thriller, lots of twists and turns, 413)

Emily St. John Mandel - Sea of Tranquility  **  Unlike any time travel book I’ve read in which it seemed all nonsensical and flat.    (Post apocalyptic, time travel, Writer, covid, 272) 

Evie Woods - The Lost Bookshop  **** four characters, dual timelines, how the past affects the present, abusive relationships, what is real and what is not, learning to trust again.  (Magical realism, dual timelines historical and present, books, England, Ireland, USA,  444, e)

Sulari Gentill - The Woman in the Library ****  A mystery within a mystery set in Boston with so many twists and turns , the characters don't know who to trust. (Mystery thriller, Boston, murder, deceit, books, 292)

Haruki Murakami - Sputnik Sweetheart  *****  I love Murakami and he always leaves me with something to think about. This one more so than others. The same themes rewritten in a different way: Cats, music, love, loss, life. The ending isn't quite so clear cut or is it?    (Author of the month, magical realism, Japan, love lost, 224, e)

Rereads 

Jim Butcher - Aeronauts Windlass #1 Cinder Spires **** Reread before start Olympian Affair. Just as good the second time around. An epic fantasy involving magic and technology combined, airship battles, talking cats, strange characters, and etheric forces.  (Dusty reread, 781)

Jenna Black  - Dark Descendant ***  Reread while on treadmill involving demi gods, immortality, private eyes, and good versus evil.  Don't think I'll reread the rest of the series again. (336, e)

Karen Rose - Count to Ten  *** * Reread of a mystery thriller revolving around an arson investigator and a police detective.  (Mystery thriller, Chicago, Illinois, romance, murder, Theme of the week - Fire, 563)

Dean Koontz - Odd Thomas ****  Odd Thomas is a quirky character who sees dead people and tries to stop the bad guys.  (Supernatural thriller, 435, e)

BW7: Amari, Writers, and Eve

 

It's book week 7 in our 52 Books Quest and this week is all about Pablo Neruda. As I was meandering about the internet I came across Meanderings and Muses (Don’t you love that name) Odes to Common things. And wouldn’t you just know it, I fell down a rabbit hole.  Found The Examined Life’s article on Pablo Neruda’s Sublime Poetic Wonder at Meaning and Utility in Everyday Things.   Then stumbled upon Interludes where his poetry inspired  The Music of Poetry – Pablo Neruda: Odes to Common Things.   Yes, he even penned An Ode to a Book, but I liked his Common Things better.

I finished Amari and the Night Brothers which was a wonderful middle grade story in which I kept forgetting Amari was only 12 years old. She was mature for her age, continually bullied and not believed because of the type of magic she had. But she was bound and determined to find her brother who’d disappeared under mysterious circumstances.  (Book 15)

Also finished Writers and their Notebooks which has been sitting in my shelves for quite a while and would dip in from time to time. Finally read it from cover to cover, highlighting and annotating. Will be copying highlighted portions in my notebook at some point. So many writers, so many different ways to use a journal. I have discovered that one journal, a catchall for all my thoughts, ramblings, and stories works for me. Many thanks to Diana Raab and the many others for sharing their thoughts. Will be working on all the questions at the end of the book.  (Book 16)

Finished J.D. Robb’s Encore In Death, # 56 in the In death series. Don’t know why this series is comfort food for my soul but it is. Have read most of the series several times. Guess I enjoy diving into the lives of all the characters as well as the mystery of murder. Eve’s mind is fascinating. Her love for Roark is ever growing and it was interesting seeing how this particular murder made her appreciate their relationship even more. (Book 17) 

Diving into James Rollins The Cradle of Ice, the 2nd book in his Moon Fall series.

“To stop the coming apocalypse, a fellowship was formed.
A soldier, a thief, a lost prince, and a young girl bonded by fate and looming disaster.
Each step along this path has changed the party, forging deep alliances and greater
enmities. All the while, hostile forces have hunted them, fearing what they might
unleash. Armies wage war around them.

For each step has come with a cost—in blood, in loss, in heartbreak.

Now, they must split, traveling into a vast region of ice and to a sprawling capital of the world they’ve only known in stories. Time is running out and only the truth will save us all."

BW36: Secret Agent Man

 Happy Sunday!  I had an ear worm in my head Saturday morning, which led me down a few musical rabbit trails this morning while thinking about our 52 Books Bingo theme this week.   We're having a Heat Wave, a magical heat wave, because we're expecting temps in the triple digits for the next two weeks. 

 

Which then segued to Secret Agent Man:  

"There's a man who leads a life of danger

To everyone he meets he stays a stranger

With every move he makes

Another chance he takes

Odds are he won't live to see tomorrow

Secret agent man, secret agent man

They've given you a number

And taken away your name."

 

Then Peter Gunn popped up.  But he was more of a private eye, than a secret agent. Right? Now the theme music written by Henry Mancini is cueing up.  

Enjoy!  

I read Seanan McGuire's Be the Serpent way to too fast and oh man, what a ride.  Currently on the second slow read to absorb it. So much happened and October is in over her head this time.  Also rereading Ben Coe's first book in his Dewey Andreas series - Power Down - for our 52 Books bingo.

Excited since series releases from two of my favorite authors are coming out this week:  J.D. Robb's Desperation Death and Faith Hunter's Final Heir.  Preordered a long time ago and will soon be on the way. 

BW9: February Reading Wrap Up

 

It's book week 9 in our 52 Books quest and the end of February.   I read 9 books, all from my own shelves and I reviewed them all except for Garden of Lies which was a reread and The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry which I forgot about as soon as I finished. It was meh and I'm sorry to say I didn't like Fikry. More telling, than showing. I really didn't like the characters all that much and there were too many implausibility's with things being let go. It could have been a tear jerker but unfortunately missed the mark with me.

Super Powered Year Two - Drew Hayes (Science Fiction, 720)

A lesson in Secrets (#6 Maisie Dobbs) - Jacqueline Winspear (Police Procedural 1932, 321)

Abandoned in Death (#54 In Death) - J.D. Robb (Futuristic Police Procedural, 356)

Ancestral Night (#1 White Space) - Elizabeth Bear (Science Fiction, 499)

Super Powered Year Three - Drew Hayes (Science fiction, 900 e)

Garden of Lies - Amanda Quick (Historical romance, reread)

Storied Life of A. J. Fikry - Gabrielle Zevin (Literary Fiction, 289)  

The Fifth Season (#1 Broken Earth) - N.K Jemisin (Sci Fi Fantasy, 468)

Winspear, Bear, and Jemisin are three dusty books for which the third time was the charm and I thoroughly enjoyed them.  Loved the newest In Death book which I preordered in 2021 so didn't ruin my buying ban.  The Super Powered series is excellent and will be reading the fourth book soon.  I probably should do a review of the whole series at some point.  No ebooks except for Super Powered Year Three because the print was so tiny.  They tried to cram a 900 page book into 600. My old eyes couldn't handle it. Thanks goodness for e readers. 

Stats wise, four are science fiction, two are police procedurals with one historical fiction reread and one literary fiction thrown in. Hmm! I'm beginning to see a pattern of Science Fiction and police procedurals. 

Alphabet wise, have read through G for titles and currently on C with Carlos Ruiz Zafon for alphabet by Author, with his 4th book in his Cemetery of Lost Books series, Labyrinth of the Spirits. 

I fell off the wagon, I'll admit it, but I went right back on it afterwards. James and I always go to Barnes and Noble on Super Bowl Sunday and thanks to Merphy Napier singing the praises of Andrea Stewart's Bone Shard Daughter so much, I had to buy it. Shhhh! Don't tell anyone.  LOL!

Book Review: Abandoned in Death by J.D. Robb

 

J.D. Robb's 54th installment  Abandoned in Death in the In Death series released on February 8th arrived and as always, everything stopped while I read it. Once again, Robb knocks it out the ballpark.  I had no idea who the killer was throughout, going from man to woman to back again, as the clues piled up, some leading no where, until Eve managed to put it all together.  

"Homicide detective Eve Dallas must untangle a twisted family history while a hostage’s life hangs in the balance—in the new In Death novel by #1 New York Times bestselling J. D. Robb.

The woman’s body was found on a bench in a New York City playground. She was clean, her hair neatly arranged, her makeup carefully applied. But other things were very wrong—like the tattoo and piercings, clearly new. The clothes, decades out of date. The fatal wound hidden beneath a ribbon around her neck. And the note: Bad Mommy, written in crayon as if by a child.

It seems clear the killer’s childhood was traumatic—a situation Eve is all too familiar with herself. Yet the clues point to a perpetrator who’d be around sixty, and there are no records of old crimes with a similar MO. What was the trigger that apparently reopened such an old wound and sent someone over the edge? When Eve learns that other young women have recently vanished, the case grows even more urgent—and to solve it she’ll need to find her way into a hidden place of dim light and concrete, into the distant past, and into the depths of a shattered mind."

The story dipped slightly into Eve's past, but just a little, so as not to derail the story. There were likenesses, but she didn't let it bother her. She's grown past the torment to acceptance, so could concentrate on the murderer as the clock ticks down to another murder.  The surprising reveal of the bad guy upset everyone as he was well known to them all.  

The whole cast of characters were along for the ride on this one which was nice.  Well worth reading again. 

Futuristic Police Procedural, 368

BW38: Sunday's Book Babble - September Equinox

It's week 38 in our 52 Books Quest and Autumn is upon us. The sights and sounds of autumn are my favorite time of year with the wind rustling through the branches, and the crunch and crackle of fallen leaves. All the shades of yellow and orange and purple and red form a colorful palette on which to play.  

"Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love — that makes life and nature harmonize.  The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot, letter to Miss Lewis, 1st October 1841"

Finished J.R. Robb's Forgotten in Death, another great entry in the In Death series. I kept thinking I know who did it, but nope that person wasn't it, then the one, but nope.  I was right there with Eve as she followed the clues and finally figured it out. 

Started Faith Hunter's True Dead and also dove into the middle of a new to me author and O'Halleran Security International series by T.J. Logan with # 3 Deadly Deception. (One of the freebies from a week or so ago)  Enjoyed it enough to get the kindle unlimited #1 Deadly Secret. 

We watched Ford vs Ferrari tonight which was quite good and recommend if you  want to know more about the beginnings of Carroll Shelby, his relationship with Ford, and racing. 

BW37: Sunday's Book Babble - Book Lust

 It's week 37 in our 52 Books Quest and I have a case of Book Lust. To me, reading is as necessary as breathing. Without my books, I get very cranky.  I love the stories that make you sigh as well as the ones that make you hold your breath and forget to let it out.  The ones that grab you and pull you into the world of the characters, the ones that make you want to dive into the world of the book and not let go. The ones that make you think, and the ones that make you laugh out loud or cry.

The ones that make you wish you had the imagination to write, along with the ones that make you want to throw them across the room for various reasons. The ones that stay with you long after you've finished the book.  And the ones that make you want to revisit them over and over again.

If you can't tell by now, I have a case of book lust which brings me to Nancy Pearl, the author of Book Lust and so much more. 

It was just announced that The National Book Foundation will be presenting to Nancy Pearl the 2021 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community on Nov 17, 2021. 

Book Lust, More Book Lust, and Book Lust to Go are so much fun to peruse, but I have to admit to getting lost in rabbit trails while looking up books which of course had lead to a startling long wishlist and an ever growing TBR stack.  Pearl even has a Book Lust Journal in which to record your thoughts on stories. Check out Pearl's Podcasts, her interview on How Reading Informs the Person That You Are, and the Millions interview about her first fictional novel George and Lizzie and Getting Out of Her Own Skin.

****

I’m still ensconced in Darynda Jones world of Charley Davidson and currently on book #11 Eleventh in the Grave.  Once I’m through with the wild and wacky world of the grim reaper, angels and demons, ghosts, mystery and murder, J.D. Robb’s latest in her Eve Dallas series Forgotten in Death is waiting in the wings.  

Books I've added to my virtual stacks are Heather Grahams second book in her Krewe of Hunters series Heart of Evil and the 2nd book in S.K, Dunstall's Stars Uncharted series Stars Beyond and book lust lead me to getting 10 urban fantasies as well as military romances from the freebie list Karen posted the other day. 

Birthstone Bookology challenge completed

Little did I realize when coming up with the Birthstone Bookology challenge, how many vowels there were.  Loads of fun picking out books. December beat me however with the q and u's and had to go with the whole word in the title versus spelling it all out.  Incidentally,  The total number of books turns out to be 73 which is a prime number.  Plus it is Sheldon's favorite number from Big Bang Theory.  *grin*

Sheldon: "The best number is 73. Why? 73 is the 21st prime number. Its mirror, 37, is the 12th and its mirror, 21, is the product of multiplying 7 and 3."

Leonard: "We get it, 73 is the Chuck Norris of numbers!"

Sheldon: "Chuck Norris wishes. In binary 73 is a palindrome, 1001001, which backwards is 1001001. All Chuck Norris backwards gets you is Sirron Kcuhc!"'

**************************************************

January  - Garnet 

Spartacus: The Gladiator -  Ben Kane 
Alexandria Link - Steve Berry  
Russian Winter - Daphne Kalotay   
The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah 
Echoes in Death - J.D. Robb   
The Translator - John Crowley 


February - Amethyst 

Axis  - Robert Charles Wilson  
Midnight Crossroad - Charlaine Harris 
Inheriting Edith - Zoe Fishman
Thief with No Shadow - Emily Gee 
Harvesting the Hummingbird - Scarlett Braden  
Bury Your Dead - Louise Penny 
Snowed - Maria Alexander 
Tinderbox - Rachel Grant 

March - Aquamarine

An Artificial Night - Seanan McGuire 
Dream Quest of Vellit Boe - Kij Johnson
Unmasking Miss Appleby - Emily Larkin 
Apple Orchard - Susan Wiggs 
The Mistress of Spices - (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni 
The Adept - Kathrine Kurtz/Deborah Harris 
Resisting Miss Merryweather - Emily Larkin 
Ice Cutters Daughter - Tracie Peterson 
Natural History of Dragons - Marie Brennan 
Etched in Bone - Anne Bishop 


April - Diamond 

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larson 
Dead Iron - Devon Monk 
Don't Turn Around - Michelle Gagnon 
Midwife of Venice - Roberta Rich 
One Way Fare - Hannah and Barb Taub 
The Necromancer - Michael Scott 
Dark Watcher - Lilith Saintcrow


May - Emerald 

Blood of the Earth - Faith Hunter 
Mapmakers War - Ronlyn Dominguez 
From the Corner of His Eye - Dean Koontz (
Cold Reign - Faith Hunter 
Aedyn Chronicles: Chosen One - Alister McGrath 
Lord of Chaos - Robert Jordan 
Fire Dance - Della Jacobs 


June - Pearl 

The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson 
Gods and Ends - Devon Monk 
Ashley Bell - Dean Koontz 
Relics - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child 
Late Eclipses - Seanan McGuire 


July - Ruby 

The Rook - Daniel O'Malley 
Fire Up Your Writing Brain - Susan Reynolds 
The Beautiful Mystery - Louise Penny 
The Year of Yes - Shonda Rimes 


August - Sardonyx 

Summer Knight - Jim Butcher 
Ashes of Honor - Seanan McGuire 
Niccolo Rising - Dorothy Dunnett 
The Path of Daggers - Robert Jordan 
Where One Goes - B N Toler 
The Nature of the Beast - Louise Penny  
Do You Take This Daddy - Katie Meyer 
Area X: Southern Reach Trilogy -  Jeff VanderMeer 


September - Sapphire 

Secrets in Death  - J.D. Robb 
Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor
Purity in Death - J.D. Robb 
Portrait in Death - J.D. Robb 
Winter's Heart - Robert Jordan 
Imitation in Death -J.D. Robb 
Reunion in Death - J.D. Robb 
6th Extinction - James Rollins 


October - Opal

Origin in Death - J.D. Robb  
The Tao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff 
Archangels Viper - Nalini Singh 
The Winter Long - Seanan McGuire


November - Topaz 

Between Two Worlds - Tyler Henry 
Once Broken Faith - Seanan McGuire 
Sweep in Peace - Ilona Andrews 
Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum  - Temple Grandin 
Signs of the Zodiac: The Scent of Shadows - Vicki Pettersson 

December - Turquoise 

Turquoise:  Turquoise Girl - Aimee & David Turlo (Ella Clah novel)

Sunday Salon Chit Chat

We met with our building team consisting of our architect, contractor, and electrician. Now the real works begins and since it took so long for the plans to be approved, it looks like things will be progressing a bit more slowly than planned and it will be about four to five months.  Everybody's busy since it is high summer so we just have to be patient. Grrr!  Never fear, I will be cracking that whip to make sure the renovations are done by the end of the year.  Fingers crossed, knock on wood, and where did my dang rabbits foot disappear too.  *grin* 

I finished my birthstone bookology challenge for this month which should have been relatively easy since spelling out RUBY.   However a few other books yelled for my attention in the midst of the challenge.    

R: The Rook - Daniel O'Malley (#1 Rook, paranormal, 504) 

U: Fire Up Your Writing Brain - Susan Reynolds (nonfiction writing, 266) 

B:  The Beautiful Mystery - Louise Penny (#8 Inspector Gamache, 384, e)

Y:  The Year of Yes - Shonda Rimes (nonfiction, 336)

I just finished reading Ill Wind by Nevada Barr which is the third book in her Anna Pidgeon series.  I was annoyed by Anna in this particular book and feel like the author provided too much information and then not enough in some areas including Anna's issues with alcohol.  She had one major blackout and then declared at the end of the book - I'm an alcoholic. Or maybe I missed something in the reading.   I'm just glad I didn't start out with this one or I'd never had read any more of her stories.   The first book I read in the series was Blind Descent which was excellent, so I guess the stories are hit and miss depending on the story line, just like other series. 

Plus Roxanne St. Claire's latest in her Dogfather contemporary romance series came out a couple days ago,  Leader of the Pack, which is a quick, delightful, palate clearing read.   

For the past few years I have been listening to J.D.Robb's In Death Series in the car and finished with her latest # 44,  Echoes in Death.  It's always a pleasure to listen to her stories because she writes so well,  although the subject matter is a bit tough at times. As a writer, I've learned quite a bit between both reading and listening to the stories. I have to give props to Susan Erickson who does a magnificent job with all the voices.    Knowing myself, I'll probably start missing the characters in a few days and start listening all over again.  Can't get enough.    I started listening to Louise Penny's Beautiful Mystery today and am enjoying the narrator so far, however I did find my mind wondering a little bit since its a change.  We'll see how it pans out.  

It's week 30 in our 52 Books challenge and the last week in our Science Fiction and Fantasy reading months and highlighting author birthdays and bookish news.  

I have no idea what I'm going to read next.  Off to peruse my shelves.   

Book Review: Echoes in Death by J.D. Robb

First sentence:  "Was she dead?"

J.D. Robb's 44th book in her In Death series, Echoes in Death delivers once again.  The story is a bit dark and deals with couples being attacked, a  murderous rapist as well as spousal abuse.  Although I did kind of figure out who the culprit was halfway through, I enjoyed seeing how Eve figured it out. We didn't get to see the whole cast of characters this time except for an update on what they've been up too.  I love Eve and Roarke and can't get enough of Robb's In Death series. I'm currently rereading the series and discover something new with each read.

Birthstone Bookology - G A R N E T

J.D. Robb - Diva of Death and Dialogue

J.D. Robb's Brotherhood in Death 

I am hooked on J.D. Robb  (aka Nora Roberts)and her In Death series.  She is the one author I pre-order all her books and read them over and over again.  Yes, I've read the whole In Death series three times, plus listened to the audiobooks once. I'm currently on a 2nd go round of listening to them in the car while going to and fro. I learn something new with each read or listen.    I still consider myself a newbie writer since I discovered the joy about 10 years ago.  Around the same time, a friend suggested I read one of Nora's books from her McGregor series and I've been hooked ever since.  I studied how she handled all the elements from the dialogue to point of view to description.   And that's how I feel in love with Eve and Roark and the whole cast of characters from In Death.   No she doesn't hit it out of the ballpark with every story, but that doesn't stop me from reading every single one.

Yes, she breaks some rules with point of view, sliding in a thought here and there from other characters, but it works very well.   Didn't realize it was 'against the rules' until  another writer friend provided me feedback on a couple chapters and took me to task for differing points of view.  Rules are made to be broken and according to Alice LaPlant in The Making of a Story, the rules are more guidelines than anything else. * grin *   I had more fun completing all the exercises in TMoaS when I did a study with a group at WVU, ..which is a story for another day.

She rarely uses dialogue tags choosing instead to  use movement beats and momentum of the scene so you always know who is speaking.  It's sort of rubbed off on my own writing as  you can tell from the last post with the discussion between Ashley and Greg.   I've listened to other authors who use a lot of he said, she said and when read aloud, becomes really distracting.  Robyn Carr's Virgin River for instance.  I love reading the series but couldn't stand listening to the first book.  Which is why I appreciate J.D. Robb's style so much.

January Reading Wrap Up

January seems to have passed much too fast.  I'm sure since February is a shorter month, we'll be meeting back here in 28 days saying where did it go.  However fast it went, I've enjoyed myself.


Reading wise, even with slowing down I read 11 books and still leaning heavily towards the paranormal.  I finished the last two books in Nalini Singh's guild hunter series, the last book in Marjorie Liu's Hunter's Kiss and the last book in Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series. Lots of endings, but also began Keri Arthur's new Spook Squad series.  

For my 52 Books Author Flavor of the month challenge, ended up reading Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.  Murakami's books are admittedly strange and in this one he choose not to give any of the characters names. We have the narrator, plus grandfather, the librarian, the chubby girl and well you get the picture. It was definitely different and had me wondering for quite a while how the two different story lines were going to line up. He gives the reader plenty to think about regarding the mind, the conscious and subconscious.

1. Archangel's Legion -  Nalini Singh (#6 Guild Hunter, 385 pp, paranormal, eb)
2. Archangel's Shadows (#7 Guild Hunter, 384 pp, eb)
3. Zen in the Art of Writing - Ray Bradbury (158 pp, nonfiction) 
4. Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami (416 pp, Japan)
5. Memory Zero - Keri Arthur (#1SpookSquad, 385pp, paranormal)
6. Bristol House – Beverley Swerling (416 pp, London)
7. Becoming a Writer - Dorothea Brand (non fiction) 
8. Labyrinth of Stars - Marjorie Liu (290 pp, paranormal)
9. The Hot Zone - Jayne Castle (338 pp, paranormal) 
10. A Case of Two Cities - Qiu Xiaolong (307pp, China)
11. Frankenstein: The Dead Town - Dean Koontz (#5 423 pp, US) 

I usually don't have a lot of books in progress at one time, especially fiction. But it is a different story with non fiction.  I'm currently reading History of the Medieval World by Susan Wise Bauer with my Well Trained Mind group.   With my writing group Method and Madness, we are studying The Making of a Story by Alice Le Plante and doing Chapter 7 for February.  For my own amusement and edification, I'm reading Michael Card's biblical imaginings books - Luke: Gospel of Amazement.

I probably shouldn't say anything and jinx myself, but for the A to Z challenge, decided to add in a third category of A to Z non fiction.  Going to try and keep it primarily centered around writing and faith, so we'll see how that goes.  

Next up on my plate for February is the dusty chunkster Taylor Caldwell's Dear and Glorious Physician.  I've been meaning to read it forever, plus it was written in 1959, my birth year and it's about Luke. So it applied to several categories.  Nothing like multitasking.   Plus I just pulled James Scott Bell's Conflict and Suspense off the shelves to dive into. 

James and I are off to Barnes and Noble today while the rest of the world is watching the Super Bowl.  I managed to be true to my buying ban for the whole month of January.  Yeah me!  I'm breaking my ban for February since several new books by author I love - Anne Bishop, J.D. Robb and Dean Koontz - are coming out.  I simply have to find out what happens to Odd Thomas.   *grin* 

What books are you looking forward to reading this month?