Books Read March 2024

My reading is a daily habit. At least 10 to 15 minutes on my Kindle each night before bed. Somtimes I read while eating breakfast or lunch. In January I read 5 books but remember that included lots of travel time with nothing to do but read. In February I read 3 books and in March just two.

• The Watson Girl: An absolutely addictive and pulse racing crime thriller (Tess Winnett) by Leslie Wolfe. I've remarked on this before and I do so here again, why do writers feel the need to write a paragraph long, ok I exaggerate, subtitle to their books. It does not add a thing to my willingness to choose or not choose my next book and it is irritating! 
• The Antagonists by Ernest K. Gann

That's it for the month of March. We'll see how April goes.

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Books Read in February

I finished three books in February. One was nonfiction and two were fiction. I enjoyed all of them.

• Storm's Fury (Amelia Storm FBI Mystery Series Book 1) by Mary Stone
• Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning by Liz Cheney
• Don't Forget to Write: A Novel by Sara Goodman Confino

The pictures above are affiliate links directly to the book's page if you want to read them yourself. If you have read any of these I would love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment.

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January 2024, 5 Books Read

I thought one of the things I would do this year is keep a monthly list of books I have read and post it at the beginning of each month for the reading done in the previous month. Since this is early February you will see today books I finished during January. I will also say here that being on airplanes or in airports waiting for a connecting flight makes it easier for this list to be a bit longer that will probably be usual for the months later this year.

For January 2024 I finished the following 5 books.

1. Sing Wild Bird, Sing: A Novel by Jacqueline O'Mahony
2. Just After Midnight: A Novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde
3. The Last Phone Booth in Manhattan by Beth Merlin and Danielle Modafferi
4. The Ice Maiden: A Fast Paced Murder Thriller (Doug Bateman Thrillers Book 1) by B.D. Smith
5. The Brighter the Light by Mary Ellen Taylor

I read all these on my Kindle or the Kindle app on my phone and I got them either free through Prime Reading or as a monthly First Reads choice. I have an Amazon affiliate link below if you are interested in going shopping for some new reads or anything at all.

What have you read lately? Any recommendations? Would love to hear all about them so leave a comment.

I'll be sharing more about my trip to Vietnam in the coming days!

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There's No Coming Back From This by Ann Garvin

I have found a new favorite author, Ann Garvin. I should admit that as I finish each book, I have a new favorite author. There are so many great ones I can't be monogamous. Anyway, I finished reading "There's No Coming Back From This" the other day and was sorry to have the book end. I wanted to know more about Poppy Lively, her daughter, the movie star, her boss and of course Kevin the dog. This story was a look into movie making that I had never read or thought about before. It was story was built around the work of the wardrobe department of a major studio in California. Poppy brings midwestern thinking to SoCal makes a place for herself. I enjoyed every page!

I plan to read her other books too. I found that Ann Garvin has a wonderful way of finding the funny in the struggles people have in not so ordinary lives. After reading her bio on Amazon you can see why she can write this way. She even has this attitude about her own life, and you can see that with this quote from the bio.

She thought writing a book would get her a beach house. The beach house hasn’t happened yet, but she's bought sunglasses, so she’s ready.

 

I am putting an affiliate link right here > https://amzn.to/3S1GiW5 if you want to read it for yourself. If you read this or any other Ann Garvin books let me know about it in the comments. Would love to hear from you!

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Black River by Matthew Spencer

I finished my bedtime reading on my Kindle book the night before last. The book was Black River (affiliate link) by Matthew Spencer. It was a good keep turning pages read. I didn't figure out the "whodunit" until the story revealed it. My favorite characters were Rose Riley who is a police detective and Adam Bowman a journalist. This is advertised as Book 1 in a series but there is no information on the next book or books yet on Amazon.

In some other bits of news here on the blog I have added one of those cookie notifying things that makes you accept or reject cookies. Google who owns Blogger said I had to do it. I know they can be annoying, sorry. Accept or reject as you wish, either way you can still read and comment.

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What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

(photo is affiliate linked)

The description on Amazon's web page for this book begins with the following description...

Anne Gallagher grew up enchanted by her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the Amy Harmon books I have read and this one I would put at the top of my list of her books. I loved the characters and how they are mixed into the history in Ireland in the 1920s. I learned about how complicated and dangerous those times were. The story of Anne and Thomas' love was inspiring and lovely to read and see it growing. I would love to know more of her grandfather's life, we basically see the beginning and the end, but I suppose that would be another book all on its own.

I know that time travel isn't real, and I have a hard time accepting that in a story line. For this one the time travel facilitator was a lake near where Anne's grandfather grew up. It can be a great way to tell a story however when a character from another time sees a new time and place with a stranger's eyes. 

Would I recommend this book? Heck yeah! Have you read anything lately that you would recommend to me? Leave a comment, I would love to hear from you!

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National Friends of Libraries Week

Since 2005, the American Library Association has promoted National Friends of Library Week to recognize the dedication of friends groups across the nation.

I didn't know until this morning that we are nearly at the end of National Friends of Libraries Week. This sounds like such a great organization. I love libraries and feel strange about not having a library card for one of the first times in my life. The reason is that I am reading through the bins of books that came to me as a gift. I do hope to finish up those books in the next couple months. After that I will be heading to my nearest library. It is the best and most economical way to keep up with the latest books. When property taxes are paid a portion always goes to the library and I really support this. A well read citizen is a treasure for society. I really believe that. Those who are unread are afraid of what may be discovered in a book and generally have very narrow and limited and fearful views of life. Sometimes I pity them but mostly I just want them to start reading. Okay off the soapbox now.

When was the last time you were in a library? For me it has been too long but I plan to fix that.

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The Undertaker's Assistant by Amanda Skenandore

I finished a great story last night before going to sleep. This time the book was written by Amanda Skenandore. My one whine here is that this book has one of those titles that I think are just silly. The title in full is The Undertaker's Assistant: A Captivating Post-Civil War Era Novel of Southern Historical Fiction. Oh really?!

Okay whine over, the book was captivating. This author has written several books and I plan on reading more of her works. She is an excellent storyteller. She was able to blend the past and present of the main character, Effie, in a dare I say captivating way that kept the story moving forward and the reader more than ready to find out what came next.

I got this book through Prime Reading from our family Prime membership, but it is also available as a paperback. I highly recommend it. 

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Invasion by Robin Cook

Author Robin Cook

I have been spending more time reading lately. Part of this is because when I crochet or knit, I am having trouble with my right wrist and up my lower arm becoming painful. I keep hoping rest will fix it, but I am not seeing much improvement yet. Maybe I need to start using the track pad on computers instead of my mouse? Maybe I should get some kind of brace/compression thing? Maybe I should see a doctor about it? The last I don't really want to do because I don't want a doctor telling me I need to completely give up hobbies that bring me such joy. I keep thinking about the old joke...

Patient, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this." Doctor, "Don't do that".

That all brings me to the book I finished yesterday. I read Invasion by Robin Cook. Robin Cook's first bestselling book Coma, published in 1977 set the standard for medical thrillers and medical or legal or political thrillers are always favorites. Since then, he has written more that 30 best sellers.

In this book the theme isn't all medical though. The story is more science fiction. The aliens do come and want to change humans by taking over their minds and bodies with a virus left on Earth long ago and activated to create the invasion that is named by the title of the book, so they quit messing up Earth. Humans, with all their flaws do manage to stop the invasion in the end. I was left wondering which is better a cleaner planet filled with aliens or flawed human continuing to mess things up but able to fully live and love as always. The ending was very abrupt and I would have liked what a lot of authors do and end with a 6 month later kind of last chapter to learn the outcomes.

I have read other books by Robin Cook and they include Contagion, Chromosome 6, Toxin, and Fatal Cure. 

Have you read anything by Robin Cook? Do you have any other medical thriller type authors you like? Please share them in the comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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All links in this post are affiliates. I could earn a small commission on qualifying purchases. You would earn many thanks from me.

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The Chemistry of Love by Sariah Wilson

Last night I finished reading The Chemistry of Love by Sariah Wilson. This was something I read on my Kindle. I use the Kindle for reading a bit each night in bed before I go to sleep. I love the luxury of reading in bed and with the Kindle I don't need to have a light on which is good because that would disturb Jim. I always have a real book around for reading during the day too.

So, about Ms. Wilson, this is from her about page on Amazon where all her books are available.

"Sariah Wilson is the USA Today bestselling author of The Chemistry of Love, The Paid Bridesmaid, The Seat Filler, Roommaid, Just a Boyfriend, the Royals of Monterra series, and the #Lovestruck novels. She happens to be madly, passionately in love with her soul mate and is a fervent believer in happily ever afters—which is why she writes romance. She currently lives with her family and various pets in Utah and harbors a lifelong devotion to ice cream. For more information, visit her website at www.sariahwilson.com."

I like the positive thinking of believing in happily ever after. A home life created with family and pets and ice cream sounds like a lovely place to be. 

The Chemistry of Love was the first book I have read by this author. I will be putting others on my Wish List which is very long but I hope to read most of it in time. The story involves misplaced affections, changing to a fairy tale happily ever after. The path between that start and the end was fun to read. Some of the feelings expressed by the two female best friends seemed a bit adolescent rather that the thoughts of college educated female scientists, but I guess I can accept that emotional development and intellect don't advance in all of us at the same time or pace. At least Anna, the main character, eventually gave up her infatuation, I won't call it love, with the bad boy and found the nice brother to fall in love with. This kind of lighthearted story is perfect for bedtime reading and I don't regret a minute spent turning the virtual pages.

I need to let you know the links to the book in this post are affiliate links and I could earn a small commission from qualified purchases, of course, at no cost to you.

So, do you read from a Kindle, real paper books or like me do some of both? Let me know, would love to hear from you!

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Lost Light by Michael Connelly

I finished reading Lost Light by Michael Connelly yesterday afternoon. The main character of this and many other books by Michael Connelly is Harry Bosch. Those of you not into books might know this character from the Amazon Prime series Bosch. Even though I thought that series was very well done, and I read this book seeing the actor who played Harry in my mind as I read, nothing is better than the book. In a book you can get more depth because an author can put all the thinking and feelings in and let you understand so much more. 

In this book Harry Bosch has retired from the Los Angeles Police Department. He has an old unsolved case that he just can't let go. Of course, hero that he is, it does get solved. Michael Connelly wrote a book with a path full of twists and turns, characters likeable and not likeable at all, with complicated lives and feelings that lead to a story that kept me turning pages all day to get to the resolution and end.

Other books I have read by Connelly include...

• Void Moon 
• The Last Coyote
• Angels Flight
• maybe some others I have forgotten.
  

 The links to books in this post are Amazon Affiliate Links. I could earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. You could earn my thanks for reading and clicking.

Have you read any books by Micheal Connelly? Do you have another favorite author you would like to share with me in the comments? I'd love to hear from you!

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Someone Else's Life by Lyn Liao Butler

I typically read for a bit in bed before going to sleep using a Kindle. With that device I can read without needing a light on, so I don't bother Jim. I also will read for a little while midday while getting a snack or lunch. I can't imagine my life without books. When I was young in the olden days, as a punishment I didn't get television watching taken away but books instead. This was when my parents wanted me to think about whatever it was I had done instead of going someplace better in a book.

Anyway, I recently finished reading Someone Else's Life (affiliate link) by Lyn Liao Butler. From Amazon's page for this book, it says...

A new life in paradise should have healed her wounds. But for a woman struggling to hold on to her family and her sanity, one stormy night could change everything.

I enjoyed this story but wouldn't put it in a top 10 list. I don't want to put any spoilers here but there was one last surprise at the end concerning the main character's little boy I didn't see coming, however the way the book ended I don't think it mattered or was necessary to the storytelling.

If you are interested, this book is available in all the usual formats on Amazon. What have you read and enjoyed lately? I would love to hear from you.

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The Memory Keeper of Kyiv by Erin Litteken

I finished reading The Memory Keeper of Kyiv by Erin Litteken. The story was written about 3 women, a grandmother, mother and a daughter. 

Grandmother, who kept journals but never talked about what she lived through as a survivor of The Holodomor which happened during Stalin's reign. This was a man-made famine in the early 1930's that killed millions of people.

The mother, raised by this survivor, never knew anything about this part of her mother's life. She was raised to live in the moment and to look forward and not back.

The granddaughter in this story is a young widow with a daughter. Her grandmother gives her the task of translating the journals which she kept from Ukranian to English and in this way the story is told. Not able to do the translation herself, the love interest comes into play as a neighbor who has those skills and helps with the translation.

There is a lot of tragedy in this book but a lot of joy too. Told in two timelines, the 1930's and the early 2000's, this book kept me captivated from beginning to end.

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This post contains affiliate links to the book.

Yesterday I finished reading "A Girl Called Samson" by Amy Harmon. I really enjoyed this book. I would like to think that I could do brave and hard things like the women I read about in the books I love but fear my efforts would be short I what I imagine. I have heard of women passing for men in the Civil War as well as the Revolutionary War where this novel is set. This is a novel and not a biography however many of the characters were real people. 

Here is what Amazon has to say about this book from Amy Harmon who writes historical fiction very well.

From New York Times bestselling author Amy Harmon comes the saga of a young woman who dares to chart her own destiny in life and love during the American Revolutionary War.

In 1760, Deborah Samson is born to Puritan parents in Plympton, Massachusetts. When her father abandons the family and her mother is unable to support them, Deborah is bound out as an indentured servant. From that moment on, she yearns for a life of liberation and adventure.

Twenty years later, as the American colonies begin to buckle in their battle for independence, Deborah, impassioned by the cause, disguises herself as a soldier and enlists in the Continental Army. Her impressive height and lanky build make her transformation a convincing one, and it isn’t long before she finds herself confronting the horrors of war head-on.

But as Deborah fights for her country’s freedom, she must contend with the secret of who she is—and, ultimately, a surprising love she can’t deny.

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First 5 Kindle Books Read This Year

Are you a Kindle reader like I am? I use the app on my phone to read and I keep my Kindle Oasis on my nightstand for reading in bed before I go to sleep each night. I like to keep track of what I read and Kindle makes it easy. With the reading insights you can see consecutive days or weeks of reading. Currently I have read 98 weeks in a row and 313 days in a row. 

You can also set goals for yourself about the number of books you want to read in a year. Last year I read 70 books. Actually I read a few more that that but the others were "real" books and I track those in a reading notebook. Confession, I am a list maker and have to stop myself sometimes from seeing list making equivalent to actually doing something. That is why I don't create To Do lists anymore. But getting back on track here. So far this year I have read and enjoyed 5 Kindle books so far.

1. Knitting and Murder by Gillian Larkin.
2. The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry
3. The Wise Ass by Tom McCaffrey
4. Hummingbird Land by Carolyn Brown
5. Half a Heart by Karen McQuestion.

The books on my Kindle are from the Prime Reading Library or one of the First Reads choices available each month for free. I am a bit frugal when it comes to reading. Prime Reading and libraries can easily keep me in material for the rest of my life.

You are interested in a Kindle of your own I will share links to what I have and the cover I use too. (These are affiliate links and I may earn a bit from qualified purchases.)

This Kindle is an update from mine that is a couple years old. Find it here.

This is the cover or case I have and have been very happy with how is has help up with a couple years of use so far. You could get yours in blue or another color here.

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Two Books Finished This Week

Do you read more than one book at a time? I have been reading two at a time for quite awhile now. One book is always a real paper one. I have had a pretty big stash of real books from a friend who was downsizing her library at her home. I will read almost anything and it has been great fun to go through about 4 large bins of books before I pass them along to a thrift store. I have a book ready to read for a couple hours every evening while Jim has the television on. I just can't watch tv anymore. I don't like the commercials. I get the latest news from online sources and my entertainment comes from Netflix and Amazon Prime when I want something on to knit to. The other book source I use day or rather nightly is an ebook on my Kindle. Finally, after all these years of marriage and not reading in bed because the light would disturb him, I can read in bed before going to sleep each night. As far as I am concerned ereaders like Kindle may very well be the best invention since sliced bread! Who's with me on this?

So what did I finish this week?

The real book was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. It has been a long time since I read a book with so many twists in it. The villain and victim were never really the same people from one part of the story to the next  and at the end they deserved each other as far as I am concerned. Don't want to spoil this so that's all I'm saying here. Just read it if you haven't already. It was a best seller a couple years ago but I don't do a good job of keeping up with the latest top books.

The ebook that I finished this week was Lake City: A Novel by Thomas Kohnstamm. According to the summary on Amazon the story begins like this....

Hunkered down in his childhood bedroom in Seattle's worn-out Lake City neighborhood, idealistic but self-serving striver Lane Bueche licks his wounds and hatches a plot to win back his estranged Manhattanite wife.

In the end you are left not knowing what happens with Lane and his estranged wife but his struggle to get there is well worth the time spent with this book. 

 

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Reader's Digest Today's Best Nonfiction 2002

Five very different stories kept me up late reading. This collection from Reader's Digest didn't really feel dated even though it was published in 2002  and most of the books included were first published in 2001.

In this book I got to read and enjoy the following.

• Jack A Life Like No Other by Geoffrey Perret
• A Smile As Big As The Moon by Mike Kersjes with Joe Layden
• Every Breathe You Take by Ann Rule
• Saving Milly by Morton Kondracke
• Coming Back Alive by Spike Walker

Picking favorites among these or any books is like picking favorite children, it depends on the day, just kidding. I love getting lost in all kinds of books and my favorite was the one I just finished. You might enjoy these too and I am putting Amazon affiliate links in this post for you below. Those of you using a reader like Feedly (which I use myself) may have the ad code stripped out. Come to the website for the links if you are interested. Shopping with my links could mean a small commission  for me and gratitude with no extra cost to you.

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Catherine Gaskin, A Falcon For a Queen

From the information page for this book on goodreads.com.

Tells the story of Kirsty Howard, who leaves China when her parents die and seeks out her grandfather in Scotland. It is a strange world she finds at Cluain - an arrogant and lonely old man running one of the finest whisky distilleries in the world with two women running the house.

If you wanted to know about a working whiskey distillery in Scotland this book gives a peek into that life. There is also the mysterious death of Kirsty's brother as part of the story. The solution to that comes toward the end of the book with very little build up that would make for a good thriller. With that said the book was entertaining if not a stay up too late reading page turner.

The Amazon ad you see below and the link you see in this paragraph are affiliate links. Clicking on them will not change a thing for you but may add a few pennies to my yarn fund if you shop on Amazon. The price for this book currently starts at 0.00 for Kindle Unlimited readers to about 100.00 for a new collectors copy.

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Another Reader's Digest Condensed Book

Just finished another of my gifted books. As I finish these I have been considering what to do with them. One thought is to pass them on to a thrift store. Another idea I have been considering is to offer them for a bit more that postage and packaging on Ebay. I would be an absolute beginner on Ebay but it might be fun. Any thoughts or tips from more experienced Ebay sellers?

This volume has 5 stories in it and they are all nonfiction.

• Public Enemies by John Walsh. This book covered a few of the cases shown in the TV show America's Most Wanted. The behind the scenes look at the crew that makes that show happen was interesting.
• Diana's Boys by Christopher Andersen. I have no way to know how true any of this book is. The author describes the lives of Diana's boys, William and Harry, and how they were effected by two very major events. Those events were the divorce of their parents and the death of their mother. Of course much has happened to these young men since this book was written in 2001.
• No Finish Line by Marla Runyan. Marla was the first legally blind athlete to compete in the Olympic games. Marla's story including some highs and many lows was inspiring.
• An American Insurrection by William Doyle. More that I ever knew about the struggle to integrate the university in Oxford Mississippi by James Meredith and the Kennedy adminstration. 
• Hits Below the Beltway by Dave Barry. First published in 2001 so much of what Mr. Barry pokes fun at in Washington is still happening or not as the case may be. Hilarious read!

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What I Read

 Another volume of my Reader's Digest collection has been finished. I had forgotten how enjoyable it is to breeze through the condensed stories in these volumes.

I think I read Prizes by Erich Segal years ago but liked reading it again.

Eyes of a Child was frightening and I had to be careful to end on a calm part so I could sleep at night after reading some of it.

Secret Missions was set in WWII Florida and it was interesting to learn how involved in the war that state was.

More Than Meets the Eye was okay. I felt like the story needed more depth but maybe in its full form I would have liked it better.

Since I am determined to be a more active reader I have gone back to GoodReads and listed my latest reads there. I am a list maker at heart and GoodReads makes it so darn easy, I'm hooked.

Back with more again soon. Take care and stay cozy!