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?????

[Carolyn Tewell]

Lynn McNeill - you are underpaid and probably under-appreciated.  Thanks for your input about Libraries on the front section of this Group.

Carci - I hate that when that happens, too!  Get this huge testimony from a major writer and then story is blah.

Mandy - copy down the book by Deb Reed - I USUALLY like writers who include Florida in their stories.

Started The Last Child about 10PM - had to close it down around 1:30AM - VERY GOOD so far!  I loved the King of Lies but disappointed in his other work - this new one seems like a winner.

Friends don't let friends read boring books.~mellowgal

[Mandy Muffin]

I like the North Carolina setting (Last Child) so well I picked one off my shelf with a similar setting: "Safe and Sound" by J. D. Rhoades.  http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Sound-J-D-Rhoades/dp/0312354894  Good read, as the action takes place along the Blue Ridge Parkway with a crazed assassin on the loose.  I am now in the middle of "Public Enemy Zero" by Andrew Mayne.  It kind of sci-fi, with a DJ who is being haunted by some strange force.  http://www.amazon.com/Public-Enemy-Zero-Andrew-Mayne-ebook/dp/B0052...  And it's only 99cents on Amazon!  Hey, not all good reads are expensive. 

[Ioruach]

I just finished Insane City by Dave Barry. Very funny, of course, but some of it a bit raw. Many of you may prefer your humor to be a bit more refined. I enjoyed it and laughed out loud often.

I am also in the midst of a collection of short stories by Alice Munro, the recent Nobel Prize winner for literature. This one is titled Dear Life, with each story being simply a slice of life, I guess you might say. In any case, I am convinced the Nobel Prize was well earned and deserved.

[Ursula]

I finished the debut novel The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis and highly recommend it.  It is the story of 1 poor black family living in Philadelphia from 1925 to 1980; the 12 tribes are Hattie's 11 children and her granddaughter.  Very well-written and insightful on many levels.

Next on my list is Jamie Ford's newest book, Songs of Willow Frost.  Just found out he's coming to visit us in the spring; thanks to our Friends of the Library.

[Mandy Muffin]

I read the book earlier this year and enjoyed it very much.  I lived in Philadelphia from 1965-67 and had a lot of interaction with the black community.  The plant where I worked was featured in a a civil rights movie with Sydney Portier as that neighborhood in South Philadelphia was in the midst of the civil unrest of the time.  Although some of the story took place in other locations, the Philadelphia stories took me back to that time in America where the subtle segregation of the border cities (as compared to the actual segregation across the Mason-Dixon line) was exposed.   

[rapa]

Ursula, In March I also read Ayana Mathis's THE TWELVE TRIBES OF HATTIE and found it an excellent read, especially as it's a debut novel.  Gave it a 90 on the Slopok scale!

Thanks to the member who recently recommended Margaret Atwood's ALIAS GRACE.  I picked it up today and it looks like it's right up my alley! http://www.amazon.com/Alias-Grace-ebook/dp/B00513F9PM/ref=sr_1_1?s=...

[Carolyn Tewell]

Mandy...so I finished "THE LAST CHILD" by John Hart....best book I've read in 2013.

"In the Weeds" which is slang for: too many tables! A common shout out in the Restaurant business by Servers.

Moved the 92 year old Mother-in-law into our newly re-habbed Office/home - many challenges ahead. Bought some "extra" bottles of wine. Catch in when I can...~ct

[Slopok]

Just finished, The Last Algonquin, by Theodore Kaziroff. Amazon 5 star. I thought it was a 4 star read, light but entertaining.

As recently as 1924, a lone Algonquin Indian lived quietly in Pelham Bay Park, a wild and isolated corner of New York City. Joe Two Trees was the last of his people, and this is the gripping story of his bitter struggle, remarkable courage, and constant quest for dignity and peace.

By the 1840s, most of the members of Joe’s Turtle Clan had either been killed or sold into slavery, and by the age of thirteen he was alone in the world. He made his way into Manhattan, but was forced to flee after killing a robber in self defense; from there, he found backbreaking work in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Finally, around the time of the Civil War, Joe realized there was no place for him in the White world, and he returned to his birthplace to live out his life alone—suspended between a lost culture and an alien one. Many years later, as an old man, he entrusted his legacy to the young Boy Scout who became his only friend, and here that young boy’s son passes it on to us.

Theodore Kazimiroff, the son of Joe Two Trees’s young confidant, writes historical, environmental, and natural history articles for several magazines. He lives in Bayville, New York.

[Mandy Muffin]

I decided to read a couple of Tess Gerritsen books.  I have probably read most of her's over the years but found these tucked in my bookshelves:

--"Bloodstream" is as good as any Stephen King without the unexplained weird stuff that happens in those Maine woods.  Gerritsen, a physician, offers a reasonable explanation to the eerie behaviors. :

--"The Keepsake" is an early Rizzoli and Isles with some ghoulish goings on in Boston.  This duo got to have their own TV series. 

[Carci]

I'm halfway through Ill Wind by Nevada Barr.  This is my first book by her and while I am enjoying it now, it started out kind of slow.  I chose this book because it relates to the Anastazi culture and the ancient cliff dwellings. 

Took the book along last week on a long weekend in Sedona, AZ where we visited several cliff dwellings there.  Our daughters took us on this special birthday trip and altho the setting was somewhat different, I felt my reading was similar.

Does anyone know of a book set in Sedona?  It would be interesting to read one now that I have visited the area and been on those pink jeeps that everyone talks about...  lol

[Mandy Muffin]

Try this one: http://www.amazon.com/The-Road-Shambhala-Gerald-Stanek/dp/0974741795  I have not read it but it looks interesting. 

[Flowergram]

Just finished a book by Colleen McCullough - The Prodigal Son.  Very good.  Had not read her books since The Thorn Birds.  Now will have to go back and find some more.  Anyone else read her?