OCTOBER READS

[rapa]

Sadly I haven't opened a book in a week as have been traveling! Had a blast at my 60th high school reunion! Best one ever! Sue Grafton's W IS FOR WASTED is by my bed at home. Ergo, tomorrow night it's back to the books. YAY!!!!!
What are you reading?????

[Flowergram]

Currently reading Jo Nexbo's - The Bat  - a little hard to get into but like it.  Next up  Wm. Tapply- The Nomination and have from the Library - Michael Koryta's -Envy The Night and Louise Penny's -A Beautiful Mystery.  September just flew by and our highschool reunion next year is number 55 - Yikes I did not believe it when I got the notice. LOL  So many good books from here - I just cannot keep up.  Thanks everyone.

[Flowergram]

Well guess I am getting old and forgetful - already read The Nomination.  Finished the Bat - a little long and drawn out but good story.  Loving Michael Koryta's book - he is so good for a writer so young. 

[tnbopeep]

Well my books finally came in! I picked the Sharyn McCrumb to start off with. It's fiction but tells the true story of the Revolutionary War battle of King's Mountain here in my neck of the woods - the NC/SC/TN mountains.

And I love Dave Barry!! I've got his latest on hold at the library - another case of when it rains it pours (books!).

[rapa]

Last night finished Sue Grafton's W is for WASTED. Was almost 500 pages and moved right along. Always good to spend some time with Kinsey, Henry, William and Rosie. Nice they don't age!  Only three more letters to go!

[Mandy Muffin]

I am through "V."  I have such a backlog of books to read, I may wait for the final four and read them in sequence.  I just started with "A" a couple of years ago.  I imagine the last book with be "Z is for Zero Left to Write."  I did read "Kinsey and Me" this summer. http://www.amazon.com/Kinsey-Me-Sue-Grafton/dp/0399163832  A lot of nice background on a local Kentucky girl that made it big in California.  I believe at least one of her alphabe tbooks takes her back to her roots in the Bluegrass State but I can't remember which it was.  She had to go visit some little town near Owensboro to get some background on a suspect.  

[grammyk]

I recently read this book too; what a great series!  I'll be sorry to see it end.

[Ursula]

I finished reading The Burgess Boys and really enjoyed it, and then I moved on to This Is How You Lose Her by Junot DIaz, which I decided wasn't worth the effort of finishing.  It is a collection of 9 short stories dealing with the power of love, but it just didn't grab me.  Since the author won the Pulitzer Prize for his first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I was disappointed, but then I never read that book....maybe I wouldn't have liked it either.

So I decided to read a first novel that has been receiving great reviews: The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis.  So far, so good!!  Marilynne Robinson, who won the Pulitzer for her novel, Gilead, which I loved, wrote a beautiful review which ended, "This first novel is a work of rare maturity."  I think I am in for some good reading.

[Mandy Muffin]

I'm just finishing up "A Thread Unbroken" by Kay Bratt.  http://www.amazon.com/A-Thread-Unbroken-Kay-Bratt/dp/1469217686  I a have a special interest in the child kidnapping and abuse problem in China, having visited orphanages there and doing considerable research on the topic.  I wrote an unpublished book called "Kunming Child" on the subject a couple of  years ago.  This is a heart-wrenching story of the the abuse of children, including the killing of disabled female babies.  Another excellent read that I got off my Amazon Prime free-book-a-month perk. 

[Ioruach]

I am quickly approaching the end of A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny and have two thoughts: One, how is it that I have been reading this long but have not discovered Penny’s books; the other is that now that I have, I know that there are several other of those fine Chief Inspector Gamache novels yet to read.

In this one novel, Gamache has certainly become one of my favorite crime story protagonists. With his wit, patience and intelligence he somewhat reminds me of Agatha Christie’s famous detective, Hercule Poirot. In any case, if anyone here has not read Penny, I highly recommend that you do so. 

[Ursula]

Oh my goodness!!  I can't imagine reading A Trick of Light without reading the previous books!!  Although the stories are complete within each book, the development of the characters is such a rich part of the story.  I'm so glad you found Louise, she is definitely a treasure!!!  But please do go back and start with Still Life; there are 8 books in all and number 9 is due next August.  Actually I envy you the hours of reading pleasure waiting for you!!

[Ioruach]

You know, Ursula, I don't know if I have ever read an author's series in the order they were written and published. So, yes, I will try to go back and start from the beginning.  It will probably take me some time, because I do have other books reserved as well.  But since I am an old fart who is fully retired and with winter approaching in Minnesota, I will be doing plenty of reading during the coming few months.

[Ursula]

One of the best benefits of being retired (me, too) is reading as much and as long as you like.  I just remembered one of the book reviews complained that Louise Penny was abrupt with the disposition of the Peter-Clara marriage in A Trick of Light, which was so unfair because we had been watching their marriage from the first book and it made perfect sense.  I don't usually try to read books in order either, but this time it makes sense....especially for the last book, How The Light Gets In.  Happy reading!!