Clue 2022 Here Comes The Sun!

Photograph by Tim Ernst, wildnerness photogapher, at the headwaters of the Buffalo River. The Buffalo became the first National River in the U.S. in 1972.

Using George Harrison's words from Here Comes the Sun:

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Little darling, the smile's returning to the faces
The ice is slowly melting
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and it's all right.

My reading has really been off the last couple of years in every way. Number, quality and enjoyment have been lower than usual. I feel the sun returning as I think many of us do and I'm looking forward to having a much better reading year in 2022.

A few weeks ago I was browsing through my LT library and I was reminded that I have so many books sitting on the shelves that I know I want to read soon. It's almost like I buy but forget. So below I'll have a list of titles, a reminder list, of some that jumped out at me as I browsed through SOME of the pages! It's certainly not a curated list, I just wrote whatever caught my attention as I browsed.

Shinning a light on these TBRs

My Place at the Table by Alexander Lobrano
A Long Petal of the Sea by Allende, Isabel
Big Sky and Life After Life by Atkinson, Kate
Piranesi by Clarke, Susanne
God Is An Englishman by Delderfield, R. F.
The Women of Chateau Layfayette by Dray, Stephanie
The Bounty Lands by Ellis, William
Sudden Country by Fisher, Karen
Troubled Blood by Galbraith, Robert
What Seems True by Garrison, James
Marlene by Gortner, C W.
The Bird in the Tree by Goudge, Elizabeth
The Devil and Sherlock Holmes by Grann, David
The Lost City of Z by Grann, David
The Secret River by Grenville, Kate
The Nightingale by Hannah, Kristi
Silver and Gold by Hartnell, Norman
The Ragged Edge of Night by Hawker, Olivia
The Vapors by Hill, David
The Nix by Hill, Nathan
Ten Years in the Tub by Hornby, Nick
Magpie Murders by Horowitz, Anthony
The Daughters of Yalta by Katz, Catherine
The Bookseller of Florence by King, Ross
Nella's Last Peace by Last, Nella
Code Name Helene by Lawhon, Ariel
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Lefteri, Christy
The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay, Faye
A Back Room in Somers Town by Malcolm, John
Deep River by Marlantes, Karl
Migrations by McConaghy, Charlotte
Eleanor by Michaelis, David
Circe by Miller, Madeline
The Bookshop at 10 Curzon Street by Mitford, Nancy
No Man's Land by Moore, Wendy
Code Girls by Mundy, Lisa
Hamnet by O'Farrell, Maggie
Dr. Zhivago by Pasternak, Boris
Great Circle by Shipstead, Maggie
Angle of Repose (reread) by Stegner, Wallace
Oil and Marble by Storey, Stephanie
Raphael, Painter in Rome by Storey, Stephanie
Singapore Sapphire by Stuart, A
Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Sullivan, Mark
Monkeywrench by Tracy, P. J.
The Colour by Tremain, Rose
The Cold Millions by Walter, Jeff
When the Wolfe Came by Warde, Mary Jane
We Begin at the End by Whitaker, Chris
Stoner (reread) by Williams, John
The Founding Gardeners by Wulf, Andrea

Series Reminder

1. Five Decembers by James Kestrel
2. Clair de Lune by Jetta Carleton
3.
4. The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
5. My Dog Tulip by J.R. Ackerly
6. Death Minus Zero by John Baker
7.
8. An Experiment in Treason by Bruce Alexander
9. Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
10. Code Girls by Liza Mundy
11.
12. The Dry by Jane Harper
13.
14. The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee
15. Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters by Jennifer Chiaverini
16. Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles
17. Fates and Traitors by Jennifer Chiaverini
18.
19. Nella Last's Peace by Nella Last
20. O Come Ye Back to Ireland by Niall Williams and Christine Breen. (Mary)
21. The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin (London)
22. Heidi by Johanna Spryi
23. Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker (France)
24. My Place at the Table by Alexander Lobrano
25.

Fiction Read

1. The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin
2. Heidi by Spyri
3. Fates and Traitors by Jennifer Chiaverini
4. Clair de Lune by Jetta Carleton
5. Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Giles
6. The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen
7. The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
8. The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander
9. The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani
10. By Her Own Design by Piper Huguley
11. The River by Peter Heller
12. Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
13 Where the Crawdads Sing by Della Owens

Nonfiction Read

1. Code Girls by Liza Mundy
2 That Quail, Robert by Margaret Stanger

Biography/Memoirs Read

1. My Dog Tulip by J.R. Ackerly
2. Nella Last's Peace by Nella Last
3. O Come Ye Back to Ireland by Niall Williams and Christine Breen
4. The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee
5. So Many Miles to Paradise by Christine Breen
6. Martha Washington by Patricia Brady
7. One Woman Farm by Jenna Woginrich

Mysteries Read

1. Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker
2. The Dry by Jane Harper
3. The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
4. The Cat Who Said Cheese by Lilian Jackson Braun
5. The Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
6. State of Terror by Louise Penny
7. The Cat Who Turned On and Off by Lilian Jackson Braun
8. The CAT Who Saw Red by Lilian Jackson Braun
9. The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan Santlofer
10. The CAT Who Played Brahms by Lilian Jackson Braun
11. The CAT Who Played Post Office by Lilian Jackson Braun
12. The CAT Who Knew Shakespeare by Lilian Jackson
13. The CAT Who Sniffed Glue by Lilian Jackson Braun
14. Five Decembers by James Kestrel
15. A Test of Wills by Charles Todd
16. A Taste for Vengeance by Martin Walker
17. The Cat who Went Underground by Lilian Jackson Braun
18. The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts by Lilian Jackson Braun
19. An Experiment in Treason by Bruce Alexander
20. The Bullet by Mary Louise Kelly
21. The Cat Who Lived High by Lilian Braun
22. Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen
23. The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal by Lilian Jackson Braun
24. No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay
25. The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
26. The Cat Who Moved a Mountain by Lilian Jackson Braun
27. The Cat Who Went Into a Closet by Linwood Barclay
28. The Cat Who Came to Breakfast by Lilian Jackson Braun
29. The Cat Who Wasn't There by Lilian Jackson
30. The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lilian Jackson

I love that song, it always brightens my mood. Good luck with your 2022 reading.

Personal Challenge: President's Wives

1. Martha Washington by Patricia Brady - Complete
2. Abigail Adams by Woody Holton - TBR

Hold

>9 lowelibrary: Thanks, I love it too and was listening to it when I thought it would be a good theme. Best wishes to you for great reading in 2022 too!

JANUARY

1. Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker
2. My Dog Tulip by J. R. Ackerley
3. The Dry by Jane Harper
4. Nella Last's Peace by Nella Last
5. The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
6. The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin

FEBRUARY

1. The Cat Who Said Cheese by Lilian Braun
2. O Come Ye Back to Ireland by Niall Williams

March

April

May

June

I've placed a star and I am looking forward to following along with your reading once again. I too have a massive TBR and also tend to "buy and forget" so I am also trying to pay more attention to the books I already have.

Good luck with your 2022 reading!

Some wonderful books in your TBR list, I hope you manage to get to them this year.

George Harrison's words are beautiful. Our weather-boss appears to be dyslexic and we got snow instead of sun.

Looking forward to following along.

Now humming the song! Love it :) Looks like your challenge is off to a good start!

Following along...humming the song!

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
TBR - Yes
BINGO - Dog
My Rating - 3.5

My Dog Tulip by J. R. Ackerley



Ackerley was middle-aged when he adopted his first dog, a German Shepard named Tulip. This memoir of their lives together is considered one of the best dog books ever written. I'm glad I read it and came away from it wishing all dogs had owners as good to their pets as Ackerley was. His attempts to breed Tulip take a large part of the book and I got rather bored with that but unlike Ackerley I've spent all of my life around animals and it was all new to him. Tulip lived to be over 16 years, a very long life for a dog, clearly an indication of good care and love.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Mystery Series
TBR - Yes
BINGO - Set In Another Country
My Rating - 3.5

Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker

Bruno is responsible for organizing St. Denis' first car rally which includes a classic-car parade. The parade draws some deep-pocket collectors and when strangers come to St. Denis there is always trouble. In this case two murders that Bruno determines are related to each other. The mysteries are not particularly memorable but I always enjoy reading about Bruno and St. Denis.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
TBR - Yes
BINGO - Weather Word in Title
My Rating - 4.0

The Dry by Jane Harper

This is my second reading of The Dry but apparently I didn't post reading it a couple of years ago. Taking place in a small town in Australia, the focus is on the affects of a murder or possible suicide of a teenage girl twenty years after her death. A good plot and well written characters make it good reading. My original 4 star rating stands.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Women Authors (memoir), Random CAT (home)
TBR - Yes
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0

Nella Last's Peace by Nella Last

Nella Last was a volunteer to the UK's Mass Observation Project when WWII began. I read the book in which her diary entries from that period are compiled in 2020. This book from her diaries covers the period immediately after the war, August 1945 through Dec 1948.

Before the war Nella had always been a homebody and often ill. During the war she pushed herself to become a volunteer and found she had skills in organizing and managing that she didn't know she had and she was surprised to find she enjoyed working. In this volume the volunteer opportunities are over and Nella is back in her home. The adjustment is difficult for her and other women to make. In addition to feeling like she had lost her purpose, she had every possible hardship to deal with, particularly food. In the first book there were few complaints about her husband but after the war her patience with him grew thin because he expected to be the center of her life. He seems to be having a lot of anxiety which I don't remember from the earlier book and that is also a burden for her. Although her sons both made it through the war she worries about them finding jobs and housing.

One of the ways Nella deals with it all is to read! She often writes of going to the library. She had dreamed of being a writer herself, and of course, she became one with her diaries. In the Afterwards we learn her oldest son will become a bookstore owner and bookbinder in the early 1960s. Her younger son moved to Australia in 1947, another hardship for Nella. As the 1950s grow near and life is not so harsh Nella's mood begins to lift. The next and last book, which I have just ordered, is Nella Last in the 1950s. I love "ordinary" Nella and look forward to finding out what came next. The first book has been filmed as a movie, Housewife, 49. The 49 refers to her age when she started the diaries.

Origin - TBR
CAT - Yes - Reading Through Time
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3.5

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey



I have completed The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey. I have read reader reviews of her books previously, generally highly rated, and been curious about them.

The book begins in 1921 but flashes back to 1915. I found this irritating considering the short time span. The protagonist is Perveen Mistry, one of the first women attorneys in India. Working for her father, she is appointed to execute the will of Omar Farid, a wealthy client of her father's. Farid has three wives and children who will benefit from the will. During Preveen's involvement a guardian she finds questionable will be murdered and she will involve herself in the investigation of his death.

As a mystery I find the book average however central to the plot are women's legal and religious status which adds much more interest. Even one of the first female attorneys in India must observe laws of both she finds limiting. Because I have long been interested in the history of dower rights this falls right into my wheelhouse.

>28 clue: LOL great minds think alike! I read this book in 2018 and this is part of my review, "This was a great legal and cultural read. The reason for the 3 star rating was because of the unnecessary and far too lengthy flashbacks of only 5 years. I feel that the author could have written a good book without the flashbacks."

>29 Tess_W: Don't they though! It's almost like a publisher won't accept a novel anymore if it doesn't dance around in several time periods!

>29 Tess_W: >30 clue: I am so over this multiple timeline thing. It's ruining a lot of stories that would be better without it.

Origin - TBR
CAT - No
BINGO - Yes - Capital City (London)
My Rating - 3.5

The Last Bookshop in London
by Madeline Martin



When Grace Bennett and her best friend Viv moved to London from the small town where they grew up their dream came true. It became possible after Grace's mother died, and her mother's friend, Mrs. Weatherford, agreed they could stay with her until they found jobs. Viv, who forged a letter of recommendation found a job quickly at Harrod's. Because Grace wouldn't write her own recommendation finding a job seemed hopeless until Mrs. Weatherford stepped in and convinced the owner of Primrose Hill Books to hire her. Since Grace wasn't a reader, it didn't seem like a good fit, but she was good at doing some much-needed cleaning, organizing and advertising.

When Grace and Liv came to London they knew war was a possibility. Not long after they arrived it became a reality. Viv leaves London to join the Auxiliary Territorial Service, Grace stays behind, continues to work at the bookstore by day and becomes an APF warden patrolling the streets by night.

For most readers the greatest enjoyment will come from Grace's conversion to reader. After being urged by a handsome customer to read The Count of Monte Cristo she was hooked, continuing to read not just his recommendations but those of Mr. Evans too. As the Blitz heated up, she began reading aloud to customers every afternoon creating an hour of distraction from continual fear and sadness.

Though I enjoyed this, the plot was sometimes predictable, and the ending was a little too pat. Even so, it always held my attention. I may have to reread The Count of Monte Cristo, it was quite a drag when I read it in school and I'm having trouble believing it would cause someone to have the effect on a nonreader that it did on Grace!

.

>32 clue: If it helps, I adored The Count of Monte Cristo when I read it a few years ago -- I thought it was a real page-turner!

>33 christina_reads: I'm glad you did and in fairness I think I need to try it again.

JANUARY RECAP
Books read total - 6
From TBR - 6
BINGO - 5
CATS read - 4

A good month for me but none fell among the greats. Didn't throw any at the wall either!

Origin - TBR
CAT - Yes, Random CAT
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3.5

The Cat Who Said Cheese
by Lilian Jackson



This is the 18th of 29 in the Cat Who mystery series. The small town of Pickax is trying to generate interest in local businesses by holding The Great Food Explo. There will be a new restaurant opening, a cheese tasting, a bake off and as so often happens in the small town of Pickax, a murder! Former big city newspaper reporter Jim Qwilleran investigates, but it's his Siamese, Koko, who has all the answers. Not that anyone listens. A quick fun book from a series that began in 1986 and is still popular.

Origin - TBR
CAT - Yes, Reading Through Time
BINGO - Yes, Friends Name (Mary)
My Rating - 4.0

O Come Ye Back to Ireland by Niall Williams and Christine Breen



Niall Williams and his wife Christine Breen are both writers, and she is also an artist. They met in Dublin as students at University College. Niall was from Dublin, and although Christine's parents were Irish, they had moved to America when she was five. After Christine returned to America, Niall joined her, and they were married in 1980. Five years later Christine inherited her ancestral home and land and they decided to return to Ireland to farm, write, and paint.

This book was written after their first year in the four-room cottage in West Clare where Chris's grandfather had been born. I had a hard time settling into this account at first. It moved slowly and didn't contain that much interest for me. About halfway through when they began to write about their neighbors and the traditional Irish life most in this rural area still lived, that changed. The music, the storytelling, the descriptions of the local people and how they became friends was what I was looking for. Chris had a relative living close by and they probably would have failed had she not been the support she assumed she should be. From telling them when to plant beans to telling them who to call to help harvest turf for winter fuel, she was an encyclopedia of traditional rural Irish life. Through the years Niall and Christine have had success at writing and she at painting. They still live on the farm, and there are three more books about their lives there. I look forward to reading them and other books they have written as well.

>37 clue: Excellent review! I have this one in the stacks, so it's good to know that it is a bit of a slow starter.

Origin - Library
CAT - Authors CAT
BINGO - Children's Book
My Rating -

Heidi by Johanna Spyri



I remember my mother reading this childhood classic to me when I was a preschooler, and my sister has a copy from our childhood so I may have read it later myself. I remembered the primary characters, the goats and the mountain setting with fondness. I didn't remember that Heidi was taken from her grandfather for awhile which I think would have been frightening to me. Although I enjoyed the reread, I won't pass it on to a child, it's so much a book of its time I don't think they would enjoy it.

>39 clue: A favorite of mine! I have Heidi with that very same cover. Have you watched the movie starring Shirley Temple?

>39 clue: I did see it years ago, but I don't it very well. I'll have to see if I can find it.

Origin - Library
CAT - Yes, Random CAT
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson

This was the perfect read when the sleet was coming down! I read it in one sitting, and it was very enjoyable. It's the first in the Cat Who series and although it's got a few unbelievable elements having read later books in the series I know they get better in that perspective. I'll continue to read them in order rather than jumping around as I've done in the past.

>42 clue: I had so much fun reading those the first time that I might need to do a re-read of the series sometime.

>42 clue: Just have 2 books left in the series. I also jumped around the first time I read them. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them in order. The characters become part of your family.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No, Book Club
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.5

The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee



The author was born and grew up in North Korea. She escaped to China, just a river crossing away, when she was seventeen. I'm not sure that "escaped" is the right word to use although ultimately that was the result. Although she crossed during the night into China, she thought she would go back to her mother and brother in a few days. It was only after she had been in China where she stayed with a business associate of her mother's, that she began to understand it was impossible for her to return without reprisals for everyone in her family.

Being in China was the beginning of her understanding that the world was not as she had been taught. Reading the account of her life over the next decade is compelling, harrowing and quite often frightening. One of the values of Lee's book is that for readers who live free, it makes the way people living in a totalitarian regime that creates false history and world events similarly compelling, harrowing and quite often frightening.

>43 thornton37814: >44 lowelibrary: I really am enjoying them. Last night I finished the book at >45 clue: and because of its serious nature, as soon as I closed it, I immediately thought next I needed a Cat Who book. I had already planned to read the next one for a cat in March so that works out!

Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Random CAT
BINGO - You'd Love To See This As A Movie
My Rating - 4

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell



My thinking is not always practical when I go into a bookstore. Rarely do I come out with just the book I meant to buy. But unlike Shaun Bythell, I have never gone into a bookstore to buy a book and bought the store too, as he did in 2001 while visiting his parents for Christmas. His diary, written in 2014, tells his experiences of being a used bookstore owner with both humor and frustration. He is very likeable, very funny and by using every opportunity he can think of, he's kept the doors open. Although the store is in the small village of Wigtown, it has grown to be the second largest used bookstore in Scotland.

I enjoyed this so much, I look forward to reading his other two books.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3

The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lilian Braun



Another in the Cat Who series. Good for R & R.

>49 clue: On my shelf. Hope to get to it this year!

>49 clue: - Already on my BB list. Might move it up.

Origin - Library
CAT - Mystery CAT
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3.0

In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming



Clare Ferguson is the new Episcopal priest in the small town of Millers Kill, NY. Shortly after arriving she meets Sheriff Russ Van Alstyne who isn't particularly impressed at first, prejudice preceded his getting to know her before forming an opinion.

When Clare finds a newborn infant on the church steps the two of them get involved in determining who left the baby but soon a greater problem arises. The mother is murdered.

This is an average beginning novel for a mystery series. Since it's the debut book for the author it's unlikely to be the best in the series she's now been writing for 20 years! The bitter winter setting is well done and the mystery reasonable. The fact that the new priest jumps in to help police find the young mother's murderer is stretching it to say the least. I have a friend who loves this series though and I'll read the next one to see how it goes.

>53 clue: I read and enjoyed this a couple years ago. The second installment is on my TBR, but I haven't pushed it to the top yet. I did enjoy the first enough to move forward, but something else always cuts in line!

>54 beebeereads: In know what you mean, a lot of my TBR should be tagged stalled.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO - Flowers on Cover
My Rating - 3.5

Fates and Traitors by Jennifer Chiaverini



I didn't know much about John Wilkes Booth before I read this novel. I only really knew he was the actor who killed President Lincoln.

I like the way Chiaverini tells Booth's story by writing each chapter through the point of view of a woman in his life. The first is his mother, then his sister, an inn keeper with whom he had a long personal relationship, and a young woman who was in love with him and was lead to believe erroneously they would marry. This method of telling the story brings a personal feeling to Chiaverini's writing.

The author appears to have done adequate research, resources are listed in Acknowledgements and I always like to see that in historical fiction. His sister's memoir is still in print, that might be interesting. One thing that didn't come through to me here is why Booth had such a strong tie to the South when his family did not.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Random CAT
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3.0

The Birth an Development of American Postcards by Dr. John Freidman

This was a disappointment to me because it only included postcard history up to the end of the pioneer postcard period, about 1900. Although what was there was good, I'm interested in postcards in the first half of the 20th century, particularly around WWI.

Touchstone unavailable.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Author CAT
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3.5
State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton



This first book by Louise Penny and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has all the elements of a good political thriller. I'm assuming Penny did most, if not all of the writing, while Clinton added her knowledge of international politics. The result is a well written political thriller with believable, and certainly frightening, terrorist activity including the development of nuclear bombs in unstable countries and conspirators at the highest levels of government in the U.S. The one thing that keeps me from rating the book higher is that the characters, especially the Secretary of State, never seemed real to me. Still, I consider it a better than average book and a successful endeavor for a duo that have never written together and neither of whom have written a political thriller.

March Recap

Books read total - 6
From TBR - 4
BINGO - 2

>58 clue: I've read all of Louise Penny's books except this one. I'm looking forward to it, as I've heard good things about it (which your review has confirmed).

>58 clue: Great review! I found the story flew at breakneck speed but maybe that was because I was reading fast. Very exciting.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0

The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan Santlofer



Luke Perrone is an art history professor in America. He is also the great-grandson of a famous man, Vincent Perruggia, a Parisian artist and the thief who stole the Mona Lisa from the Louve in 1911.

Luke has long been interested in his ancestor and how he managed a crime that rocked the world. It is rumored that during the two years the painting was missing, copies were made, leading to the question of whether the present-day painting in the Louve is the original da Vinci.

When Luke travels to Italy for research, he unknowingly attracts the attention of an Interpol detective, and a beautiful American woman who may not be what she seems. And then a third enters the scene, a high stakes art collector operating at the highest levels of international crime.

A good thriller that is well researched and historically accurate, this is the best art theft novel I've read in a long time. I enjoyed every page!

April was a rough month as far as reading goes. I was among other things, chairman of a large five-day conference and although the planning was done the pre-conference preparations and the actual meetings and cleanup took about 8 days of all day and some nights hustle. It was originally planned for 2019 but of course Covid kept that from happening, and it had to be pushed off until this year. I have now officially retired from conferences! Other than the book above, I only read three The Cat Who books from my TBR:

The Cat Who Played Brahms by Lilian Jackson 3.0
The Cat Who Turned on and off by Lilian Jackson 3.0
The Cat Who Saw Red by Lilian Jackson 3.0

April Recap

Books read total - 4
From TBR - 4
BINGO - 0

>62 clue: Love novels pertaining to art, thefts or otherwise! This goes on my WL!

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Random Cat and Author Cat
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3.5

Clair de Lune by Jetta Carleton



The author (1913-1999) grew up in Missouri, graduating from the University of Missouri in 1939. She taught for several years but in 1948 married and moved to NYC where she worked in advertising. In 1962 she published a novel, The Moonflower Vine, and it became a New York Times bestseller. The book I read this month is her second novel, published posthumously in 2012. Claire de Lune is based on Carleton's years as a young woman teaching in high school.

Allen Liles, a naive and idealistic young woman, begins teaching in high school in 1941. She loves books and poetry and wants to her inspire her students to love them too. Eventually a group begins to come to her apartment in the evenings to hear her read. After the students drift off, two of the boys continue to stay and the three form a special friendship. Though she never gives them special treatment in school, townspeople begin to notice she is sometimes with the boys around town in the evenings and the boys are seen going into her apartment. Naturally it's not long before complaints are being made. It's only then she admits to herself that she has fallen in love with one of them and may have ruined her chances for the career she wants and the job she desperately needs.

The book is "old-fashioned" but of course one from a different time. The characters are believable, I wanted to shake some sense into Allen sometimes.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO - A Book Club Read
My Rating - 3.5

Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles



One of Paulette Jiles strengths as a writer is her knowledge of society during the Civil War period. Here she writes about a young Confederate soldier who musters out in Texas. With no money and no place to return to, he and three others form a ragtag band of drifting musicians who will share many adventures. Having been strongly smitten by a young and beautiful indentured servant, Simon's ultimate goal is to find her and to buy a piece of land where they can live in peace.
Though I thought this too long for the simple plot, I enjoyed reading it and look forward to her next one.

>67 clue: Glad you liked this one. I read an earlier one of hers and did not like it. I usually give authors a "second" chance. This sounds like one I should read.

>68 Tess_W: Have you tried News of the World? I think it's her best.

I think you'll enjoy The Last Mona Lisa when you get to it. I don't know what it is about art theft I find so intriguing, but I do!

>69 clue:, yes, it was News of the World that I really didn't care for.

Origin - Library
CAT - No
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.5

Five Decembers by James Kestrel



In November, 1941 Joe McGrady is a Honolulu detective, and so new to the job he hasn‘t worked a murder case yet. That changes when he gets a call one evening and is told by his Chief to immediately return to the station. He learns when he gets there a body has been found in an outbuilding on a ranch. Before the night is over there will be one more body found and one more created. One of the bodies is the beloved nephew of Admiral Kimmel, Commander of the Pacific Fleet.

After a few days McGrady has a suspect but he has fled to Hong Kong. The decision made by Kimmel is that McGrady, a veteran who has been in Asia and speaks Chinese, should give chase. That one decision changes McGrady’s life forever, he arrives in Hong Kong December 7. Before leaving Honolulu he told his girlfriend who he loves, that he will return in a week. He does return, but it will be five years later.

I can’t remember reading a crime novel in years that I think is as good as this one. It’s my kind of noir, a feeling skillfully created through descriptions of dark city streets, secretive people and situations that don’t feel right to the reader. The plot is complicated but sensible and comes together perfectly in the unexpected end.

James Kestrel is the pen name of writer Johnathan Moore. He has written 6 other books described as dark thrillers but I don’t think that’s an apt description of this book. The scene when the bodies are found is gruesome but other than that I can’t remember flinching. In my case, not a page was skipped but it would still be a good book if a reader did.

5/25/22 I should have included that this won the Edgar Best Novel award in April.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Mystery CAT, Reading Through Time
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0

A Test of Wills by Charles Todd



Inspector Ian Rutledge has returned to Scotland Yard after serving in WWI. Though he is not affected by visible war wounds his mental state is fragile. Chief Supervisor Bowles, who is jealous of Rutledge's prior successes, assigns him to investigate the murder of a popular army colonel, thinking he will fail.

As the first book in a series this is surprisingly good. The setting in post war Britian is believable with challenges for those returning home and for those who were left alone to carry on.

Rutledge is worn down with a critical voice in his head, a remnant of the war. Seeing another character completely incapacitated with the same "shell shocked" condition causes him to worry about his future. So did this reader, due to some fine writing. I look forward to continuing the series.

And these The Cat Who books, about 3 hours of reading each, that I have not logged though some were from previous months. All by Lilian Jackson Braun. These are great for cleaning the reading palate!

The Cat Who Played Brahms
The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare
The Cat Who Played Post Office (Mail was thrown through a mail slot in the door and landed on a smooth floor. When Koko and Yum-Yum heard the delivery, they would run and jump on the envelopes making them slide! Braun does a great job with the cat behavior imo.
The Cat Who Sniffed Glue

May Recap

Books read total - 6
From TBR - 5
BINGO - 2 with 10 to go

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Random CAT
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0

A Taste For Vengeance by Martin Walker



This is the 11th book in the Bruno Chief of Police series. Bruno has received a promotion and it comes with lot more work and a little more pay. Pamela, a former girlfriend, has opened a cooking school for tourists and Bruno teaches one day as do others in the village. One of Pamela's tourists does not arrive at her home although she did deplane at the right time and place. She is eventually found dead along with a man the investigation reveals she knows.

Most of the mysteries in the Bruno books are related to international political operations. This is not an exception, and I thought the murder investigation went on too long and was too involved. I'm giving the book overall a 4* rating because I liked the rest of it so much.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Mystery CAT
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0
An Experiment in Treason by Bruce Alexander

In the 1770s a packet of letters is stolen from a high ranking official and one of his employees killed. When the Bow Street Runners are called to investigate the official will not reveal who wrote the letters or what they were about, he just wants them found! When the packet shows up in the colony of Massachutes it becomes evident the letters are politically relevant. Could Benjamin Franklin, who is in London, be associated with the theft?

I always enjoy being in the company of Sir John Fielding, the blind magistrate of the Bow Street Court and founder of the Bow Street Runners, and his young protege, Jeremy Procter. As is always true in the Sir John Mysteries the writing is as descriptive as if the author lived 200 years ago. In his notes Alexander explains the plot is a novelized account of an actual event.

>76 clue: A BB for me!

>77 Tess_W: I think you'll like this series Tess, you will probably want to start with the first one, Blind Justice.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Author CAT, Women Authors CAT
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0

So Many Miles to Paradise by Christie Breen



Christine Breen, the child of Irish immigrants, grew up in New Jersey. The family visited Ireland enough so that she decided to go to college there. She met and married her husband, writer Niall Williams, when they were both students in Dublin. After living almost a decade in NYC, they relocated to a 200 year old cottage passed down through Breen's family, in the mid 1980s. I read Williams memoir about their first year in County Clare earlier this year.

Now I'm skipping to 2001-2002 and a travel memoir about the trip she, her husband and 2 children (15 and 11), made around the world over nine months. They began in the NYC area visiting her sister, then to Montana and Idaho. Next was a drive down the California coast to San Francisco. Then on to Central and South America spending weeks in Costa Rica, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. Then New Zealand, Australia, Bali and Singapore.

Of course there were problems along the way. Most required some "fixes" but were manageable. There was great worry however by the beginning of the Iraqi war and the eruption of the SARS viris in China. SARS required a big change in travel plans, China was to be their last country, and one they particularly looked forward to but a few weeks before they planned to be there they decided it was too dangerous.

While the book is not long, 279 pages, it took me forever to read it because I wanted to look up every city and site they visited! Their favorite country was New Zealand with Australia running second.

Origin - Shelf (Reread)
CAT - No, Book Club
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3.5

Saints at the River by Ron Rash



This was a selection for my book club and a reread from 2017 for me. Ron Rash, a native of the Carolinas, is a poet and short story writer as well as a novelist. Serena, probably his best known novel, was made into a movie starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper.

Set in Southern Appalachia, this novel follows the events after a teenage tourist drowns in a protected and remote river. If her body is brought to the surface the process may have a damaging effect to the environment. As might be expected her parents, particularly her mother, demand it. The protesters, those who support the parents, politicians, the press, and representatives of the company planning to temporarily dam the river, converge where the 12 year old's body is caught below the the fast running water. Emotions run high and threats begin to be insinuated. When a decision is made the results will have consequences that extend beyond the river.

My previous rating of 3.5 will remain.

Origin - Library
CAT - Book Club
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3.5

The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen



Commonwealth is a small mill town in the Pacific Northwest. In 1918 emotions run high because of the frightening flu epdemic and disagreements about WWI. When the town goes into quarantine, keeping some people out and some people in, tempers flare.

Written in 2006 it's amazing how similar the novel is to the experiences we've had during Covid. This is Mullen's first nove land while I think the plot is good, IMO the writing is on the pedestrian side.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Book Club
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0

The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hinderbrand



Elin Hilderbrand's 2022 "summer on Nantucket" book was chosen by my book club as their annual beach read. I think it was a very good choice. I've read two of Hilderbrand's previous books and they were primarily romances. This isn't although there are two romances on the pheriphery, one couple being young and the other older. The primary focus is the Hotel Nantucket, an old hotel that was restored to it's original grandeur by a multi-bilionaire no one has seen. Well, actually one person has but she dosen't tell. We get the story of the first year with some good characters working at the hotel and some visiting. A quick, sometimes funny read perfect for summer doldrums.

I'm editing for one negative comment. The author has a penchant for parenthesis! While most pages don't have any, some will have as many as 4! I found it to be very distracting and to my way of thinking should not be necessary!

Continuing to read The Cat Who series by Lilian Braum:

The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts 3.5*
The Cat Who Went Underground 3.0*

June Recap

Books read total - 8
From TBR - 6
BINGO - None, still 10 to go

Origin - Library
CAT - Book Club
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0

The Bullet by Mary Louise Kelly



When Caroline talked to her Dr. about the wrist pain she was having, she heard what many of us have, "probably carpal tunnel". But it wasn't. After an MRI it was clear there was something in the base of her head. It turned out to be a bullet (a bullet?!), and that's not the only revelation that will be coming.

Discovery of the bullet will lead to a decades old unsolved murder case being reopened, a breach with her brothers and loving parents, a romance after years alone, and a sojurn to Paris (she is a linguist). While the plot may sound unlikely the writing is solid and I was always involved in the story, sometimes on the edge of my seat. This is Kelly's second novel, I'll be hunting down the first one, described as a spy novel.

>85 clue: - Interesting premise. Think I'll take a BB for this.

>86 dudes22: Same here, that sounds really cool!

>87 christina_reads:, >86 dudes22: This was for my book club and when I first read the description I thought it sounded too unnrealistic but once I got into it I was hooked! I now have a copy of her first book and look forward to it....sometime.

>85 clue: I read that and I really liked it!

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Random KIT
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4

Truffle Hound: On the Trail of the World's Most Seductive Scent, with Dreamers, Schemers, and Some Extraordinary Dogs by Rowan Jacobsen



With his first sniff of a truffle, the author became obsessed with them. He had to know about everything related to them; the hunt, the hunters, how the truffle business worked throughout the world. I have no doubt he has acquired a depth of knowledge that may very well be unparalled. It isn't a dry book, he has met some very interesting characters and was involved in some funny incidents during his travels. It was more than I wanted though, I was just interested in the hunt really, but for anyone who has a more serious interest, this is the book for you.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4

The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander



I took this as a BB from thornton and I liked it just as much as she did. Sometimes its good to read something just for pleasure and that's what this one is.

Jess is a young librarian. Her life was turned upside down when the grandmother that raised her died AND she lost her job. There were no other opportunities where she lived so she had no choice but to start over somewhere else. Driving through a village she didn't know, she stumbled upon a perfect little house, well maybe not perfect after all, but sooo cute and just like that she bought it. There were no opportunities where it was located either, and she didn't know a soul that lived there. Defying logic again, she decided to set up a little library with her grandmother's books in the front yard. And really, logic isn't always what it's cracked up to be is it?

This was just published in the U.S. last week, the author is English, so it might be a few more days before it's available in stores. I was able to get my hands on an ARC!

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4

Martha Washington: An American Life by Patricia Brady



I've decided that I want to know, and should know, more about the wives of the US presidents than I do. Of course the difficulty of doing that is finding reliable biographys since women's lives have been so poorly recorded. As I evaluated those availabe on Martha Washington, this was the one that looked best. The author has a PhD in history and the her Ackowledgements, Notes and Bibliography indicate serious research. Had Martha Washington not burned all the letters she and George Washington wrote to each other (when they were apart they wrote to each other weekly) it would have been much easier!

Martha Washington (1731-1802) is usually remembered, if at all, as a chubby faced white haired old woman. She had a life as a young woman too of course, and was known to be a high-spirited beauty. At nineteen she married one of the richest and most sought after men in Virginia. In this marriage she became the mother of four, all of whom would die before she did. Her first husband died 7 years after their marriage and 2 years later she married George Washington.

Both marriages were successful, both spouses were devoted to her as she was to them. Martha would have preferred that she and George spend their lives in Virginia, but nonetheless supported him throughout his military and political career, serving as his most trusted counselor. In addition to learning how Martha chose to live, Brady includes social history so we understand when Martha did and didn't follow social mores.

>91 clue: Sound lovely! Off to try to find it!

>90 clue: That truffle hound book reminds me of Bruno's first dog, and then it makes me sad thinking of the dog's demise.

>91 clue: I'm glad you liked The Littlest Library. It was the book I needed at that moment.

>94 thornton37814: Years ago I heard an interview with a man that hunted truffles in the Ozarks on NPR. Even then they were so valuable he literally lived hidden in the hills so no one could follow him. That, in addition to Bruno's truffle hunting, is what caused me to want to read this book.

I've been so busy I haven't even closed out July! A friend came to visit from the NW and there was a week of sickness of some kind, Covid tests came back negative. Like so many, we've had terrible heat. Unfortunately we've been in drought and had water restrictions, not because of water supply, but because there was a major eqiupment failure and the repair took a week. I love all of my gardens and I'm fighting mother nature every day to save plant lives. Since I couldn't use a hose during that week of restrictions, every night I filled and carried buckets of water beginning as the sun set for over 2 hours. It definately cut into my reading time, but I was trying to prevent as much evaporation as I could. So far this month we've had low high heat days, high nineties with only a few over 100. It's just weird, normally this is our hottest part of the summer. Earlier we had such high humidity the "feels like" temperature would get up to 107 to 110 day after day. To water after dark I have to carry a flashlight with me and I fall from time to time but it's war! And it may be what we deserve by planting gardens with plants that aren't native.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Mystery CAT
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0
A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie

I may have read this before, but if I did I didn't code it as read in my LT catalog.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No, Bookclub
BINGO - Alpha T
My Rating - 3.5

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

A reread for my bookclub. I liked it as much this time as the previous read and look forward to book 3 in the series this fall. I'm leaving the original rating.

Origin - Library
CAT - No
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3.0

Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen

I've planned to start the Molly Murphy series for a long time. The first title was about what I expect for a first in a series, and I'll continue with the series when I can.

July Recap

Books read total - 8
From TBR - 5
BINGO - No

I need to read 7 books to reach my goal of 40 from TBR. I'm hoping to finish in September because there are so may NEW books coming out that want to read asap AND finish BINGO!

>96 clue: I feel your pain, Luanne, re: watering the garden. We have our own well, but it is shallow and my husband says I can only water once per week. No good for the tomatoes or green peppers--will get nothing. However, the flowers seem to be ok. I found Roma tomatoes for $1 a pound at a farmer's market and ordered 40 lbs and I will be canning them next week. I also found cherries for $2 a pound and bought about 8 pounds. I canned 5 pints in lite syrup (1/4 cup sugar to 1/2 gallon water) and 3 pints into cherry pie filling. Since the birds ate all my blackberries while I was sitting at the hospital with my son, guess we won't have them over the winter. Please be careful with your night maneuvers!

>96 clue: Hoping for some good rain for you soon.

>96 clue: Now that's Dedication! Good for you, I hope you managed to save your garden. I wouldn't go out at night in case a bear dropped by (as they often do). We've had high temperatures too and another two weeks at least of around 100F every day is in the forecast. Although the interior of British Columbia usually has hot summers, it's high for this time of year in the area.

Origin - Library
CAT - Reading Through Time (Learning through fiction)
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0
The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani


I'm not familiar with Adriana Trigiani's more recent books although I did enjoy her older ones years ago. This is much like those, a good story based on family and faith with strong women characters. Instead of being about an Italian American family as those earlier books were, this story takes place in Italy and spans the 1920s into the 1950s.

The story centers around the mother of the current family matriarch. Near death, Matelda wants to tell her mother's story and will reveal facts about her mother that are unknown to Maltelda's children. Like her daughter, Domenica was a strong woman. She became a nurse and trained and worked in France and Scotland. The WWII years were pivotal to her life and Trigiani's inclusion of the fate of Italian citizens in Italy and Britian was enlightening.

There has been much discussion on LT about the use of dual timelines in novels. So here is a warning, jumping around the timeline was heavily done here.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Book Club
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0
The River by Peter Heller


The River is a thriller, an outdoor adventure and a story of a strong friendship between two young men. The friendship is based in part on their shared experience as seasoned outdoorsmen. One grew up in the Vermont, the other on a ranch in Colorado.

Just before they have to return to college for the fall semester, they take a planned float trip down the Maskwa River in Canada. Their imagined languid trip becomes instead a tale of survival when they are trapped by a raging wildfire and run-in with a possible murderer.

Suspeseful and engaging, though a shorter read at just over 230 pages.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Women Authors (Children, YA)
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0
Code Girls by Liza Mundy


The "code girls" were young women recruited from all over the U.S. to become code breakers during WWII. Unbeliveably, there were over 10,000! These remarkable women proved they could do some of the most important work for the military during the war. Work requiring intelligence, toughness and complete confidentiality.

I found the way codes were broken and the personal stories of the women before, during, and after the war equally interesting. Certainly history that needed to be told.

I read the YA version and I think it's best suited to older teens and adults.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3.5
By Her Own Design: A Novel of Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register by Piper Huguley


A novelization of the life of Ann Lowe (1898 - 1981), the first black fashion designer to the rich and famous. Lowe learned to sew by helping her mother and grandmother as they made dresses for wealthy Alabama women. After a disastrous marriage at the age of 12, Lowe became the employee of a Florida socialite who encouraged her to go to New York and paid her expenses to design school where she was made to sit, not with the class, but in a coat closet. By shear determination and a natural talent for design she became a celebrated designer through the 1960s. Among those she designed for were Olivia Havilland and Jackie Kennedy though she wasn't given recognition until late in her career.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Cat Woman: Woman And War
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0

Henrietta's War: News From the Home Front 1939 - 1942



I've done a reread of Henrietta's War: News From the Home Front 1939-1942. This is a novel composed of a series of short articles published in Sketch magazine during the war. They are done as letters sent from Henrietta to a childhood friend who is in the Army. He had wanted her to keep him informed about life in their "safe"village during the war. The articles were originally meant to entertain and they still do.

>107 clue: Definitely a BB for me!

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO - No
My Rating - 4.0

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

>109 clue: I really liked that book! Never knew about "bluies."

>110 Tess_W: I knew the condition existed but that was all I knew. What was curious to me was that it's known a Frenchman brought the gene to the US in 1820 but I've never read about blue people in France. I tried to find something on the interent but the "blue" information I found was just about the U.S.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Reading Through Time, Random CAT
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3.5

One Woman Farm by Jenna Woginrich

Jenna Woginrich was unhappy in her corporate life and decided to ditch it and try farming. She bought a small farm in upstate New York, just six acres, but even six acres is a lot of work (and worry) for one person trying to make her living from it. In the book she recounts her first year from October through the next October. The book is organized by month with comments on several days during each one. Sometimes she made comments about a specific experience that day and sometimes explains what work will be required annually during that month. She acquires more animals as the year goes by and more ideas for making money! Charming illustrations are done by Emma Dibben.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO - LGBTQ author
My Rating - 3.5

My Place at the Table by Alexander Lobrano



Lobrano is a James Beard Awrd winning writer. When he moved to Paris from the U.S. to work for Women's Wear Daily he didn't speak French very well and knew nothing about French food although it didn't take him long to learn. He discovers chefs as well, both those that are well known and those that aren't. Paris becomes his permanent home and he becomes the very well known resturant critic of one of the largest newspapers in France. Following his story from an unhapppy childhood in Connecticut to a happy and successful life in France is interesting. Anyone fond of Paris or seriously interested in French food will enjoy it the most and will probably rate it higher than I have. Travelers to Paris get a bonus, he includes a list of his thirty favorite Paris resturants.

Origin - Library
CAT - Mystery CAT (food)
BINGO - No
My Rating - 3.0

The Cat Who Came to Breakfast by Lilian Jackson Braun



I've enjoyed this series but didn't like this book, it took place on an island that is being commercially developed instead of in the small town of Pickax on the mainland. It's pretty obvious when 5 murders take place that someone needs to investigate, the police don't seem very interested, so in steps Qwill. The series is one that relies heavily on the recurring characters to create interest but in this setting only a few of them appear and then only superfically. That didn't work for me.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO - Sisters
My Rating - 3.0

Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters by Jennifer Chiaverini



I've read some books by Jennifer Chiaverini I haven't liked but I have liked her novels set during the Civil War period. Mary Todd Lincoln has been a prominent character in most of those as the wife of President Abraham Lincoln.

In Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters Chiaverini novelizes Mary Todd Lincoln's life (1818 - 1882) with a focus on her relationship with her 3 sisters and 5 stepsisters. Lincolin brings a lot of fodder to a novelist. Strong minded, intelligent, educated, and able to discuss and argue political issues, she always had detractors. Three of her four children died from illness in childhood and her husband while president, was murdered at her side. When she showed obvious signs of mental unstability after her husband's death and her adult son had her committed, she became what historians often call the most maligned of the President's wives. I think Chiaverini does a good job with a character based on a real person whose life and relationships were complicated. Unlike some profiles I've read, Lincoln comes across as very believable.

I would give a rating of 4* if the book were organized differently. Each chapter is focused on a sister, for instance Chapter 1 is titled "May 1875" and below that "Elizabeth". That would be fine if the dates were chronological by chapter but they aren't! Chapter 23 is "May-June 1876" and "Ann." Chapter 24 is "April - May 1865" and "Elizabeth." At one point I had already read about the Presidents death and a chapter or two later he was running for Congress! This style just isn't for me!

'

>116 clue: I would agree that type of dating/chapter naming is very confusing! I have read two of Chiaverini's books: Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker and Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule and I have liked them both. Think I will pass on this one, though!

I have two that I marked posted in October in my spreadsheet but they aren't here so:

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO: No
My Rating - 4.0

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

In the third book in The Thursday Murder Club series all of the previous Murder Club members are back. They investigate a cold case in which a young woman's car went over a cliff and she may have been killed. Odd though that no body was ever found, it's assumed it washed out to sea. There are twists and turns and a new character I think could be a good additional member of the group, one of Joyce's work friends. More than friends acually, they had an affair and he, now retired and living in London, became a high ranking member of the KGB!

I really don't remember the plots of these books the way I do with something with more meat but I sure do enjoy them while I'm reading! I'm looking forward to the next one although I don't guess we'll see one until late in 2023!

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Reading Through Time
BINGO: No
My Rating - 3.5

The Rainaldi Quartet by Paul Adams

The first in the Cremona Mystery series. To everyone who knew him the murder of Tomaso Rainaldi makes no sense. Tomaso was a luthier, elderly, had lived a quiet life and had no money What purpose would murdering him serve?

Two of his close friends, Gianni, also a lutheir, and Antonio, a policeman, begin an investigation. They keep coming back to the fact that Tomaso's most valuable asset was his enclyopedic knowledge of violins and violin makers. What they find will lead them to dangerous places and people they never would have guessed Tomaso would know.

It was the historical aspect of violins and violin makers rather than the mystery that kept me reading. This is a reread for me, I first read it 10 years ago. Now I want to go on to the remaining 2 books in the series.

Tomorrow I will post November reads but I want to tell you about an amazing bookstore I discovered. There was a front page article on it in the newspaper and I was stunned to see not just a bookstore in my city I didn't know about, but also that someone I'm acquainted with runs it!

The store is located in an Espiscopal church and started with a few books on a table in a hall. Their women's organization had these left from something and didn't need them so they put a "Buck a Book" sign up and planned to put the bucks in their activity fund. The books all sold that day.

Over seven years that tiny start has lead to a bookstore, now open to the public, that I estimate at more than 1,000 used books in all genres. When I called Mary Jane, the person I know who runs it, she invited me to come right down and I went that afternoon. It's just amazing what she has done. It is as well organized as the best used store and the stock is in better condition. The price for a book is still a buck for adult books but any student needing a book for school (usually classics) get their books free as do children. The money that's made still goes to the women's community activities. All books are donated and if anything is not in "very good" condition or like new, they are given to a charity bookstore. They also keep two little libraries in books.

I have been there twice now and have brought home books both times. She encourages me to pick out all I want and not pay and of course I find books and of course I pay, with a tip! I've found some really great things and that's one of the reasons I'm so amazed, I've helped unpack and organize donated books for the library many times and they are often in really bad shape and usually either popular fiction or old books no one would want. When I'm in the Buck a Book store I feel like I've walked into another world!

>119 clue: How fabulous!

>119 clue: That sounds amazing!

That's wonderful. I checked to see how far away you are as I have a few bags of books I'm holding in the hopes that we'll start some kind of lending library here in our retirement community. (So far, the committee is dragging their feet finding a place we could put a couple of bookcases.) But, alas, you are too far away.

>122 dudes22: I can't understand why people are so reluctant to do that. I worked for a large manufacturing plant and we put a bookcase in the break room after I saw that several employees were bringing books to read during their lunch. It was a small thing but employees loved it and were soon bringing books to swap. The most popular were fantasy and children's books. It was so rewarding to walk past an assembly line and instead of hearing a complaint after someone called me over to the line as I walked by, they wanted to talk about Harry Potter!

>119 clue: Congratulations on your new bookstore, and their policy for students and children. My local library uses weeded books and donations for their book sales but only if they are in very good condition. The books that are more "used" go on the free shelves in the lobby where anyone can pick them up.

An apartment complex where I used to live started a library where a book could be borrowed or taken and replaced by another book. Unfortunately after a fairly short time the books remaining were Reader's Digest condensed volumes.

That's lovely about the bookstore. We could all use more of those around.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Author Cat, Reading Through Time, Random Cat, and Women Authors!
BINGO: No
My Rating - 4.5

The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel



In this novel a woman in her sixties, sitting in a wheelchair in a luxury hotel, tells her story. It begins when she inherited a popular Shanghai nightclub from her wealthy father in the late 1930s. She tells what that did to family and personal relationships. How she fell in love with a Jewish refugee she hired as a piano player and how dangerous such a thing was during the war. What it was like to live in Shanghai after it took in 20,000 Jewish refugees, and what is was like when the Japanese occupied it. And she tells about those that helped her and those that hurt her through the war.

She answers our questions about what happened after the war too. She tells what happaned to the cousin to whom she was bethrothed as a child. She lets us know how her love story with the Jewish refugee played out. She mentions being a billionaire now although during the war she lost everything.

I hadn't heard of this book, published in 2021, until Tess reviewed it. Amazon shows 27,336 ratings with 53% being 5 stars. I rated it lower because even though I could belive all of the above(!) I thought the last few chapters were rushed, a bit tangled and the end unbelievable. Still, I throughly enjoyed reading it.

>126 clue: I concur with your review and I also really enjoyed it.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO: No
My Rating - 4.5

That Quail Robert by M.A. Stranger



I think anyone that loves animals would be charmed by That Quail Robert, a short nonfiction book first published in 1966 (I still have one of those given to me by my mother when I was a teen), and is still in print. Written by the neighbor of the couple that brought an abandoned quail egg into their kitchen and got a new family member, it is a funny and sweet story of the little bird that due to his precocious and intelligent little self, became loved throughout the country.

>119 clue: I loved hearing about the bookstore. I always try to visit used bookstores when I'm in a new city.

>128 clue: This sounds like a charming book!

>128 clue: Just got my copy in the mail. Hope to get it read early in 2023!

>128 clue: Wasn't that a wonderful story? I gave my copy to someone before our last move, then lost touch and don't know how she liked it.

>129 mathgirl40: I head for used bookstores when I'm in a new place too. And if I'm in an old place I have to go back to the ones I found on the first visit!

>130 Tess_W: I think you'll like it, it's not long but is hard to forget!

>131 VivienneR: I'll bet she liked it! I'm glad I reread it after all these years!

Origin - Library
CAT - No
BINGO: No
My Rating - 3.5

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn



Richard Osman, the author who created the Thursday Murder Club series,has probably also created a new trend in publishing.

Four women who worked together for forty years as assassins with an international organization have retired. As a parting gift the organization sends them on an all expenses paid trip together. While they are enjoying themselves they learn they are being followed by one of their former comrades by order of the organization. None of them are ready to die and feel rather irritated to know how little their employer thinks of them. Once they know, they go into action to preserve themselves, employing every trick they learned over 40 years to elude their workmate.

The writing is good and the story original. Still, I didn't like the assassin angle, although they only killed bad guys, and didn't think it was as humorous as it was meant to be. It's possible it could be a funny movie if it was in the right hands.

Origin - Library
CAT - No
BINGO: No
My Rating - 4.0

The Other Side of the Coin by Angela Kelly



Angela Kelly was her Majesty's dresser for twenty-five years. As she points out, she didn't dress the Queen, the Queen could dress herself! Instead, Kelly managed the Queen's wardrobe, selected or suggested what the Queen would wear, whether for a normal workday or for an event, selected fabrics for new clothes, and eventually designed them. Although all of those things were interesting, what I liked most was learning about the warm relationship and mutual respect the two had for each other.

Thanks to VivienneR for the BB!

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Mystery Kit
BINGO: No
My Rating - 3.5

Silent Night, Deadly Night by Vicki Delany



This begins before Thanksgiving and ends with the Christmas parade. Merry Wilkinson owns a Christmas themed retail store so there was a Christmas atmosphere throughout.

Merry's mother's college friends come for a visit, the first time they have been together for decades. Eventually, one squabble after another causes them to realize they don't like each other now, and actually didn't like each other in college either. After this reckoning, one dies from poisoning.

If you read Christmas cozies, this would be a good book to start the season with.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - Random Cat
BINGO: No
My Rating - 3.0

Christmas at the Comfort Food Cafe by Debbie Johnson



I had read the first and third in this series before reading this, the second. I continue to like the first one more.

Johnson's theme remains the same in each book but there are two new characters in each book. The two new characters in each of the three I've read have become a couple by the end. The setting is in England along the coast near a small town and the action revolves around a cafe that is the gathering place for the community. The new female character has been a woman who is having a hard time in some way, and is connected to a previous character (sister, etc.). After a long visit, she gets her mojo back at this charming place.

Very much a formula and this will most likely be my last even though I have two more on Kindle. I can recommend the first, Summer at the Comfort Food Cafe for a entertaining light read with a little romance.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO: No
My Rating - 4.0

The Bookwoman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson



This continues the story of the Lovett family. Honey Lovett's mother, one of the original packhorse librarians, is in prison as is her father, because she has blue skin and he is white. Honey is in danger of being sent to an orphanage that is more a workhouse than a place where children are cared for. She must find adults to live with or find a way to support herself and establish independency.

When her mother's old bookroute becomes available she is awarded the job although there is controversy of course, from time to time her hands turn blue! But her mother had caused her to be reader and is she is very qualified to recommend books. Even now, was for Honey's mother, the job can be dangerous, depressing and at the same time joyous work. Anyone who read the first book would enjoy this.

Origin - Shelf
CAT - No
BINGO: No
My Rating - 4.0

Where the Crawdads Sing by Della Owens



I'm not going to say much about this one since I'm one of the last people on earth to read it! The hype in the beginning caused me to ignore it. Now that I have read it, I'm really glad I did, it was considerably better than I expected. I'll take a look at her nonfiction books on Africa and watch the Crawdads movie, hopefully tonight.

Finishing out posting for the year are two more Cat Who mysteries. The Cat Who Blew the Whistle and The Cat Who Tailed a Thief. I always enjoy a relaxed visit to the cats and Quill and his friends.

Now I'm moving to 2023 thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/346858#n8011428. I'm looking forward to another year with this great group of readers!

>137 clue: - I listened to this as an audiobook and it was one of the best books I read this year.

>137 clue: It's one of my favorites of the year too. I hope the author writes more fiction.

>138 clue: I bought the book after seeing the movie. Hope to get to it early in the new year.