December 2018 Reads

90 Saving Meghan D J Palmer
91 The Wolf and the Watchman Niklas Natt Och Dag
92 Trouble No Man Brian Hart
93 Newcomer Keigo Higashino
94 The Suspect Fiona Barton
95 The Falconer Dana Czapnik
96 Sadie Courtney Summers
97 The Girl He Used to Know Tracey Garvis Graves
98 The List Mick Herron

In 2018 I challenged myself to read 100 books; I almost made it!  I've been tracking the books I read since 2004, in that time I've read 1687 books, for an average of 112 books a read.  My high was 150 books and the low was 78!  Since I didn't meet my goal, I'm challenging myself to 100 books again this year!

Now, for the books I recommend.  Life is too short to read bad books, and I read great books this month!

Saving Meghan is one wild ride. The plot has many twists that kept me guessing. It's a medical mystery and so much more.  It'll be published in April.

The Wolf and The Watchman is a great debut novel and I'm looking forward to more from this author. His writing is thrilling, beautiful and unnerving.  It'll be released in March.

Trouble No Man is well written and reminded me of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, but the noir is lighter. This is my first time reading Hart; he's really good.  Pub date is January 29th.

Newcomer is intriguing and complex, plus a look at current Japanese life. I really enjoyed this mystery and highly recommend it.

The Suspect by Fiona Barton ~ Talk about twisting psychological suspense! Two 18-year-old girls go missing in Thailand, the novel follows their British families as they try to find them or what happened to them. Hard to put down, it'll be published 1/22/19. Put it on your list.

The Falconer is an NYC coming of age story. The writing is poetic and there's basketball. I loved every page of this debut novel. Pub. date is 1/29/19.

Sadie is YA and not my usual read, but I received as a Christmas gift from a quilter friend, so I knew I had to read it.  It's a gut-wrenching mystery and the writing is riveting.

The Girl He Used to Know ~ This was a good read. It's a love story with characters you wish you knew, you'll lose your heart to them. It'll be published in April, put it on your list

The List is a short novel packs a punch. It's full of sharp British wit and a unique take on the spy novel. 

What are you reading?

November 2018 Reads

Nov	82	Skin Game	Jim Butcher
	83	The City of Lost Fortunes	Bryan Camp
	84	Holy Ghost	John Sanford
	85	What Narcissism Means to Me	Tony Hoagland
	86	Grace After Henry	Eithne Shortall
	87	An Elderly Lady is Up To No Good	Helene Tursten
	88	Dark Sacred Night	Michael Connelly
	89	A Map of the Dark	Karen Ellis

I read three authors this month who are among my all-time favorites, Butcher, Sanford, and Connelly.  I'm not going to review these three books, they're great, just always read these authors, if you have a chance.

Grace After Henry is a wonderful debut novel. A love story set in Ireland, but the story is universal and could have taken place anywhere. It'll be published in March, be sure to put it on your tbr list

In An Elderly Lady is Up To No Good, Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and... no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection has stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home.  Plus, you'll hope you never meet Maud.

A Map of the Dark is a hard to put down psychological thriller. The writing was taut, tense and exciting. An NYPD detective and an FBI agent team up to solve a kidnapping. I loved this book.

What are you reading?

October 2018 Reads

What are you reading?

74	De Niro's Game	Rawi Hage
75	The Big Empty	Stan Jones
76	Knockemstiff	Donald Ray Pollack
77	Black Cherry Blues	James Lee Burke
78	Where the Dead Sit Talking	Brandon Hobson
79	The Winter Soldier	Daniel Mason
80	Immigrant, Montana	Amitava Kumar
81	Jar of Hearts	Jennifer Hillier

Knockemstiff by Pollack is full of unruly characters who do things that would make most of us cringe (or gag, faint or run away), but hey, this is Knockemstiff, you gotta do, what you gotta do to get by and it "ain't" pretty, but it is great writing.

James Lee Burkes is a master!  New Orleans Detective Dave Robicheaux is going to be one your favorite characters in fiction. After you read this one, there are many more Robicheaux tales to catch up with. I haven't read them in order and I haven't read them all but the ones I've read have been great.

The Winter Soldier is a gripping read that explodes off the page.  Mason's lyrical and affecting novel about the costs of war and lost love will satisfy anyone who loves good writing.

Immigrant, Montana is part novel, part memoir.  It is as sly, charming, and deceptive as its passionate protagonist, a writer writing himself into being. There are buoyant energy and hilarity to this account of an Indian student seeking the wide world through the women he meets, but one laughs with growing unease as a darker undercurrent is slowly revealed. An unusual, brave twist on the migrant's tale.

What are you reading?