January and February 2021 Reads

I'm really good about reading, just got great about blogging about it!  All of these 16 books were great, with one exception, "How to Pronounce Knife", which just wasn't my cup of tea.

I'm slowly reading the Dept. Q books by Adler-Olsen, they are so wonderful.  I love a series that the characters become familiar, but the stories are each different and engaging.

You can't go wrong with any of the rest of these.

 

What are you reading?

November and December 2020 Reads

Nov	89	Hunted	Arne Dahl
	90	The Last Scoop	R. G. Belsky
	91	From the Ashes	Jesse Thistle
	92	The Kingdom	Jo Nesbo
	93	The Law of Innocence	Michael Connelly
	94	Winter Counts	David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Dec	95	Shuggie Bain	Douglas Stuart
	96	The Purity of Vengeance	Jussi Adler-Olsen
	97	The Marco Effect	Jussi Adler-Olsen
	98	Burnt Sugar	Avni Doshi
	99	Big Sky	Kate Atkinson
	100	The Heat Wave	Kate Riordan
	101	The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World	Laura Imai Messina
	102	Dogs of Winter	Kem Nunn

This miserable year ended great, reading-wise.  I found a "new to me" author, Jussi Adler-Olsen.  He writes a Danish detective series.  The two books I read were outstanding and I've ordered the rest of the series.  Expect to hear me rave about the series in 2021.  

Two of these books are must-reads, Shuggie Bain and The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World.  Be sure to put them on your reading list.  Suggie Bain won the Booker Prize.  Frequently I'm not impressed with the winners, but this time I whole-heartedly agree.

I also really enjoyed Winter Counts and Dogs of Winter.  Winter Counts is about modern Native American life and Dogs of Winter is about the California surf culture.  Both good reads.

What are you reading?

September and October 2020 Reads

More great books for these two months.  The best reads were by Nesbo, Le Carre, Enger, Penny, Backman, Donoghue, Butcher, and Dahl   They are great authors and never disappoint.

What are you reading?

July and August 2020 Reads

I've really fallen behind keeping up with this blog.  I've decided to do 2-month reports, in order to catch up.  June and July were great months for reading.  There's not one bad book on this list.  I started reading Ake Edwarson's Swedish police procedurals, and they're the best.  Also, you can never go wrong with Connelly, Winslow, Butcher, or Nesbo.

What are you reading?

June 2020 Reads

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June	42	Olive The Lionhearted	Brad Ricca
	43	Frozen Tracks	Ake Edwardson
	44	Bear Necessity	James Gould-Bourn
	45	Wanderers	Chuck Wendig
	46	Death Angels	Ake Edwardson
	47	Pretty Things	Janell Brown
	48	Even the Dogs	Jon McGregor
	49	Bikeman	Thomas F. Flynn

 

There are two books on this list that I don't recommend, Pretty Things and Even the Dogs.  The rest were great. 

Olive the Lionhearted is a great biography.   It reads like a novel, which makes it an easy read.

Two more Inspector Winter novels by Edwardson.  I've been sparsing them out because I don't want the series to end.  I think there's two or three more.

Bear Necessity is a delightful debut will be published in August, keep your eyes open for it. It's filled with delightful characters and it's heartwarming and uplifting - what we all need.

Wanderers is a humdinger of a book! Not my usual read, it's sci-fi, and at almost 800 pages, it was very long, plus there was a pandemic! The writing was sharp and the storytelling was tight. It was hard to put down

Bikeman ~ I read this epic poem in 2008, when it was first published. Then, I thought it was the best thing written about 9/11, and I still agree.  I intend to re-read it more often, even if my heart breaks every time. 

What are you reading?

May 2020 Reads

Another great month for reading.

May	34	Crazy Rich Asians	Kevin Kwan
	35	The Summer Book	Tove Jansson
	36	An American Spy	Olen Steinhauer
	37	Paris Never Leaves You	Ellen Feldman
	38	The Last Tourist	Olen Steinhauer
	39	Odd Partners	Anne Perry, editor
	40	Sun and Shadow	Ake Edwardson
	41	Never End	Ake Edwardson

Alright!  This month is different, I'm not going to do mini-reviews, I'm just going to tell you all these books were wonderful, except Crazy Rich Asians.  Read them all, with that one exception!

What are you reading?

April 2020 Reads

April	25	The Dreamers	Karen Thompson Walker
	26	Stateway's Garden	Jasmon Drain
	27	The Yellow Bird Sings	Jennifer Rosner
	28	The Tourist	Olen Steinhauer
	29	Poems To See By	Julian Peters
	30	Frying Plantain	Zalika Reid-Denta
	31	Nearest Exit	Olen Steinhauer
	32	Sing to It	Amy Hemple
	33	Savage Son	Jack Carr

The quarantine and "stay-at-home" orders didn't really affect me.  My reading didn't increase because I read at night and sew/quilt during the day.

Stateway's Garden by Jasmon Drain is brilliant.  It reads like a memoir; it's a series of stories telling about life for children in the projects in Chicago.  They deal with crushing poverty, violence, and crime.  This is their world and Drain is a great writer.

The Yellow Bird Sings is a fabulous debut novel about the unbreakable bond between a mother and a daughter.  They are hiding from the Nazis during WWII.  Read it!

This month I started a spy series.  The Tourist is the first of the Milo Weaver novels.  It was great and I'm going to read them all.  Olen Steinhauer has some stand-alone novels, and that's how I became hooked on his writing.  All the Old Knives was a favorite, and The Tourist is just as good.

Poetry isn't high on my list, but I did enjoy Poems To See By. Peters has illustrated classic poems, manga-style.  It's like reading a poem in the Sunday Funnies!

It's no secret that I really enjoy a good spy/thriller, and Savage Son fits the bill.  It's the 3rd in the Terminal List series.

What are you reading?

January 2020 Reads

2020
Jan	1	Dear Edward	Ann Napolitano
	2	Hellbent	Gregg Hurwitz
	3	The Elephant's Journey	Jose Saramago
	4	Me & Mr. Cigar	Gibby Haynes
	5	Misterioso	Arne Dahl
	6	Rabbits for Food	Binnie Kirshenbaum

Another great month of reading.  My two favorites are Dear Edward and Misterioso, but they were all good.  Dear Edward is the perfect read for a book club and everyone else!   A 12-year-old boy is the sole survivor of a plane crash and he's now famous and all alone.  His life changes when he's a bit older and he reads the letters that strangers wrote him.  It's a meditation on survival and a tutorial on how a broken heart can mend.  I love this book so much that I sent it to 5 of my favorite readers;.

Misterioso is the first in a new Swedish crime series.  I read a lot of Scandinavian authors because I enjoy the change in world view.  This is a great series and has been turned into a TV series.  I don't watch TV, so I didn't base my reading on that.  I loved all the characters in this story and hope to follow them on more adventures.

Gregg Hurwitz is a must-read author for me, I've enjoyed each of his Orphan X novels and Hellbent is no exception.  If you haven't read Hurwitz, I suggest starting with the first in the series, Orphan X.

What are you reading?

December 2019 Reads

Dec	81	Water Dancer	Ta-Nehisi Coates
	82	Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All	Laura Ruby
	83	Nowhere Man	Gregg Hurwitz
	84	Skipped Parts	Tim Sandlin
	85	County Line	Bill Cameron
	86	Carved In Bone	Jefferson Bass
	87	The Beautiful Ones	Prince
	88	Broken Ground	Val McDermid
	89	Ghost Story	Jim Butcher

Water Dancer is a must-read.  Every page is laced through with dense, gorgeously evocative descriptions of a vanished world and steeped in its own vivid vocabulary.

Nowhere Man is the 2nd installment of the Orphan X series, it's great.

Carved in Bone is a great debut mystery.  If you're a fan of CSI, NCIS, Patricia Cornwell, and Kathy Reichs this book is for you.

The Beautiful Ones is  Prince's brilliant coming-of-age-and-into-superstardom story of one of the greatest artists of all time  It features never-before-seen photos, original scrapbooks and lyric sheets, and the exquisite memoir he began writing before his tragic death.

Ghost Story is the 13th Harry Dresden novel.  Did you know that Harry is the only wizard listed in the Chicago phone book?  Usually, by the 13th in a series, I'm done!  Not with the Dresden stories, I'm hooked and Butcher manages to keep the stories fresh.

What are you reading?

November 2019 Reads

Nov	71	The Night Fire	Michael Connelly
	72	Practical Magic	Alice Hoffman
	73	29 Seconds	T. M. Logan
	74	Cold Storage	David Koepp
	75	Ask Again, Yes	Mary Beth Keane
	76	The Hearts Necessities	Jane Tyson Clement and Becca Stevens
	77	The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse	Charlie Mackery
	78	Why We Quilt	Thomas Knaur
	79	Will and Testament	Vigdis Hjordth
	80	Nothing More Dangerous	Allen Eskens

I'm not going to review Night Fire or Practical Magic; you know that you should just read everything by Connelly and Hoffman!

Cold Storage is a futuristic Mystery/Thriller, and oh, so exciting.  The story loops along with breakneck pacing and nonstop action.  A great read, not for the faint of heart.

Ask Again, Yes, is a profoundly moving novel about two neighboring families in a suburban town, the friendship between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, the daily intimacies of marriage, and the power of forgiveness.

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse is a modern classic in the vein of The Tao of Pooh, The Alchemist, and The Giving Tree, this charmingly designed keepsake will be treasured for generations to come.

Will and Testament by Hjordth, is an excellent Norweigian family mystery.  Well worth reading.

What are you reading?

October 2019 Reads

Oct	63	Pieces of Her	Karin Slaughter
	64	The Good Luck Girls	Charlotte Nicole Davis
	65	The Long Call	Ann Cleeves
	66	Sarah Jane	James Sallis
	67	Night Boat To Tangier	Keven Barry
	68	The Giver of Stars	Jojo Moyes
	69	The Last Widow	Karin Slaughter
	70	Orphan X	Gregg Hurwitz

I read two Karin Slaughter mysteries this month, both were excellent, of course!

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis is an exciting escapist read.  Imagine the Old West meeting A Handmades Tale and you'll be on your way to understanding this debut novel.

I always love reading James Sallis, and Sarah Jane was no exception.  A Gulf War veteran, Sarah Jane puts her background to use when she suddenly is thrust into the role of sheriff in a small rural town.  This is an insightful character study.

Night Boat To Tangier made a lot of "Best of" list for good reason.  It's well written and while the characters aren't doing much, except waiting, the reader easily becomes investing in what is going on.

Orphan X is the first book in a series.  It's outstanding.  I'm so glad I waited to start reading the series because I don't have to wait for 12 months for the next installment.  Loved it!

What are you reading?

September 2019 Reads

Sep	54	Someone Knows	Lisa Scottoline
	55	The World That We Knew	Alice Hoffman
	56	The Terminal List	Jack Carr
	57	A Good Neighborhood	Therese Anne Fowler
	58	Out Of Bounds	Val McDermid
	59	Travel Light, Move Fast	`Alexandra Fuller
	60	Dominicana	Angie Cruz
	61	The Rules of Magic	Alice Hoffman
	62	Such A Fun Age	Kiley Reid

September was a great month for reading, not a stinker in the bunch!

Someone Knows is a thriller and an emotional rollercoaster.  It's about family, marriage, justice, and the emotional wounds that just won't heal. It's a stunner and I loved it.

The World That We Knew is a wonderful read about the courage of 3 women during WWII. Read it and you'll never forget it.

The Terminal List is an explosive, riveting; it has vivid characters and a relentless pace. My head is spinning and I loved this debut thriller. It has lots of bad guys and a few good ones. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

A Good Neighborhood is not my normal read, but I enjoyed it for the wonderfully drawn characters and sense of place. It's compelling, heartbreaking and the conclusion seems inevitable. I think this would be a great book club read,

Great series, and great writing. Out of Bounds is a police procedural, it moves fast and covers lots of intricate ground. Scottish law is very different. Out of Bounds encompasses mystery after mystery, all interconnected, of course

Travel Light is a moving tribute to her father and a memoir of growing up in Africa. This is a great read and the only memoir this month

Dominicana is another great debut novel, it's a story of how the American dream works. This would also be a wonderful book club read, I'd love to sit in on the discussion!

After reading The World That We Knew, earlier this month, I wanted to read more by Hoffman. The Rules of Magic is another great read and I'll be looking for more of her work.

Such A Fun Age is another debut novel. It's a big-hearted story about race and privilege. It was a good read.  I love being able to recommend debut novels.

What are you reading?

August 2019 Reads

August	48	Red at the Bone	Jacqueline Woodson
	49	The Nickel Boys	Colson Whitehead
	50	Macbeth	Jo Nesbo
	51	The Better Sister	Alafair Burke
	52	Virgil Wander	Leif Enger
	53	A Better Man	Louise Penny

The Nickel Boys make my heart hurt. Even though it is a work of fiction, I, unfortunately, know that much of it probably really happened.  Colton Whitehead is an incredible writer!

“Enger deserves to be mentioned alongside the likes of Richard Russo and Thomas McGuane. Virgil Wander is a lush crowd-pleaser about meaning and second chances and magic. And in these Trumpian times, isn’t that just the kind of book and protagonist we’re all searching for?” — New York Times Book Review.

Louise Penny’s novels are unique for how seamlessly they straddle the line between charmingly small-town mysteries and big-city police procedurals.  A Better Man is not to be missed.

What are you reading?

July 2019 Reads

July	41	The Travelers	Regina Porter
	42	American Dirt	Jeanine Cummins
	43	Never Have I Ever	Josilyn Jackson
	44	Knife	Jo Nesbo
	45	The Night Olivia Fell	Christina McDonald
	46	Throw Me To The Wolves	Patrick McGuiness
	47	The Beekeeper of Aleppo	Christy Lefteri

The Travelers is a great read.  The New Yorker said it best, “[A] kaleidoscopic début . . . Porter deftly skips back and forth through the decades, sometimes summarizing a life in a few paragraphs, sometimes spending pages on one conversation. As one character observes, ‘We move in circles in this life.’”  Plus, as a quilter, I loved the cover!

American Dirt is one of the most important books for our times.  It's outstanding.  This time I'm going to quote John Grisham “I strive to write page-turners because I love to read them, and it’s been a long time since I turned pages as fast as I did with American Dirt. Its plot is tight, smart, and unpredictable. Its message is important and timely, but not political. Its characters are violent, compassionate, sadistic, fragile, and heroic. It is rich in authenticity. Its journey is a testament to the power of fear and hope and belief that there are more good people than bad.”

Never Have I Ever is a fun and suspenseful novel --perfect for a summer read.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo speaks to so much that is happening in the world today. It’s intelligent, thoughtful, and relevant, but very importantly it is accessible.  It's a fabulous read.

What are you reading?

May 2019 Reads

May 27 The Department of Sensitive Crimes Alexander McCall Smith 28 Warlight Michael Ondaatje 29 Tin Man Sarah Winman 30 Belview Square Michael Redhill 31 Gravity is the Thing Jaclyn Moriarty 32 Those People Louise Candlish 33 The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell Robert Dugoni 34 The Female of the Species Mindy McGinnis This is the first time I've real McCall Smith.  What a delightful tale, he dives right into some bizarre cases in the Swedish Criminal Justice System.  Great read and I'm a convert. Warlight is "An elegiac thriller [with] the immediate allure of a dark fairy tale.” —The Washington Post.  I can't say it better, so I'll leave it at that.  Read this book! I'm not recommending many of these books.  If you want something different, try the YA, The Female of the Species, it's a good solid read. What are you reading?

March 2019 Reads

Mar	16	The Trespasser	Tana French
	17	Stay with Me	Alison Gaylin
	18	Mission Critical	Mark Greaney
	19	The Border	Don Winslow
	20	The River	Peter Heller
	21	Daisy Jones and the Six	Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Trespasser is an Irish police procedural and a rip-roaring page-turner. French is a poet of mood and a master builder of plots. This is #6 of her Dublin Murder Squad series, I read the first one, and the characters are different in this one. A great read.

Mission Critical:  I think this Gray Man tale would be a fabulous movie.  I've read all of the series and they just keep getting better; usually by the 8th book in a series, I'm done, not this series. If I ever need help I'm calling Court Gentry!

The Border is the last installment of a trilogy. Winslow wrote the series over a 20 year period and I've read them as soon as they're released. He's a great writer. If you're going to read it, start with Power of The Dog. The subject is drugs, power, and government.

Heller is a great writer and The River is a great read.  If you cross Into the Wild with Deliverance; you get The River.

Daisy Jones and the Six is about Rock 'n Roll. The entire novel is written as interviews of the fictional characters. It's a fast read and very engaging.  It's on all the Bestseller lists for a reason.

What are you reading?

January and February 2019 Reads

2019

Jan	1	Heaven's Prisoners	James Lee Burke
	2	One Good Turn	Kate Atkinson
	3	Becoming	Michelle Obama
	4	A Darker Domain	Val McDermid
	6	An Anonymous Girl	Greer Hendricks
	7	An American Summer	Alex Kotlowitz
Feb	8	This Story Is A Lie	Tom Pollock
	9	Every Note Played	Lisa Genova
	10	Hooligan	Philipp Winkler
	11	The Line	Marin Limon
	12	Beautiful Bad	Annie Ward
	13	The Smiling Man	Joseph Knox
	14	And She Was	Alison Gaylin
	15	Into the Dark	Alison Gaylin

I'm seriously behind in posting my recommendations for 2019, I've decided to post for 2 months this time.  I hope it won't become a habit.

In these 15 books, there are some authors that you can never go wrong with.  Instead of recommending them separately, I'm going to list them, and you can consider them recommended!

1. James Lee Burke
2. Kate Atkinson
3. Lisa Genova
4. Val McDermid

Read any of there books and you won't be disappointed.

Becoming by Michelle Obama is my favorite from this list, it's outstanding.  It's been on the NYT's bestseller list for 23 weeks for good reason.

An American Summer by Alex Kotlowitz is an eyeopener!  The subtitle is Love and Death in Chicago.  It's well written and well researched, I'm rooting for Chicago to turn the corner and become safer.

If I could only use one word to describe Hooligan, a debut novel, it would be "gripping". The characters brawl, love, hate, and booze like nobody's business. Written in German and translated.

This Story is a Lie is listed as YA, but I think it's for everyone. It's a roller coaster novel about family and memory, it really captivated me.

What are you reading?