March 2018 Reads

Mar	17	Manhattan Mayhem	Mary Higgins Clark, editor
	18	Red Right Hand	Chris Holm
	19	The Dry	Jane Harper
	20	The Night Hour	Alice McDermott
	21	Night Tremors	Matt Coyle
	22	Gone World	Tom Sweterlitsch

I love NYC, and the short story collection Manhattan Mayhem was right up my alley.  From Wall Street to Harlem, each story covers a part of Manhattan.  Many famous and soon to be famous authors contributed to this collection.

Last year I read Holm's debut novel, The Killing Kind, and I was hooked. His writing is crisp and you don't want to stop reading.  You'll love Red Right Hand.

The Dry is another great debut novel, tightly woven and compelling. It was hard to put down and might want to keep a jug of water nearby.

I loved Gone World. The writing is lyrical and so good; NCIS and time travel are involved.  At once futuristic and hard-boiled. It takes you to another world and back again. (I paraphrased Stewart O'Nan for the last two sentences.)

What are you reading?

February 2018 Reads.

First off, I really need this t-shirt!  Now, on to my book recommendations.

Feb	9	Only Killers and Thieves	Paul Howarth
	10	The Night Trade	Barry Eisler
	11	Artemis	Andy Weir
	12	The Deceivers	Alex Berenson
	13	A Morning for Flamingos	James Lee Burke
	14	Bastards	Mary Anna King
	15	The Never-Open Desert Diner	James Anderson
	16	The Story of Arthur Truluv	Elizabeth Berg

I like noir, I cannot lie, and the debut novel, Only Killers and Thieves is a good one. A story of savagery and race, injustice and honor, set in the untamed frontier of 1880s Australia; reminiscent of the novels of Cormac McCarthy, one of my favorite authors.

Barry Eisler is another favorite author, I'm glad I can have more than one!  His latest, The Night Trade, is up to his usual standard, fabulous!

Artemis was so different than The Martian, but equally good. It hugely entertaining, perfect if you like thrillers, sci-fi or adventure.  I loved it.

Bastards is a memior.  It is funny, wise and very entertaining. It could of been heartbreaking, but it wasn't, it was hard to put down.  I passed this around my Tai Chi class, they loved it, too.

It's difficult to get published, so I read a lot of debut authors. I want to evaluate them. Anderson knocked it out of the park with The Never-Open Desert Diner! This is a great story, daring, smart, suspenseful, and deeply effecting. I stayed up past my bedtime to finish it.

What are you reading?

January 2018 Reads

Jan	1	Heart Berries	Terese Marie Mailhot
	2	The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend	Katarina Bivald
	3	The Highway Kind	Patrick Millikin
	4	The Treatment	Mo Hayder
	5	The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen	Hendrik Groen
		83 1/4 Years Old
	6	The Italian Party	Christina Lynch
	7	The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing	Mira Jacob
	8	Vinegar Girl	Anne Tyler

 A great start to 2018!  My favorite book this month is The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend.  This is a winner.  I was hooked after the first 10 pages, great writing and I didn't want it to end.

I also loved The Highway Kind, of course, I also love cars.  Many of my favorite authors contributed to this short story collection; each story is centered around a particular car.  Great read.

I also recommend The Treatment, it's a British police procedural, very exciting and well written.

And my last recommendation is Vinegar Girl.  It's the retelling of Shakespears' Taming of the Shrew.  I've never read Shakespear and these Hogarth editions are great.

What are you reading?