I read six novels this month, and I was pleased with the variety. I am working on increasing the number of eBooks I read. This month I read one (the Bill Crider book) , and one of the books I am currently reading is also an eBook, so I have read a total of three this year, up from one in all of 2023.
I have been putting together a list for 20 Books of Summer at 746 Books, and I am looking forward to reading those books.
General Fiction
The Jane Austen Book Club (2004) by Karen Joy Fowler
Five women and one man form a book club to discuss Jane Austen's novels, one per month. Their ages range from 30 to nearly 70. I liked this book a lot, but the narrative style was challenging. See my review.
Fiction, Western
The Sisters Brothers (2011) by Patrick deWitt
This novel is a western, a genre that I have little familiarity with. Eli and Charlie Sisters work for the Commodore. Their current assignment is to find Hermann Kermit Warm and kill him. Charlie is the older brother and runs the show. Eli narrates the story; he doesn't enjoy killing and would be just as happy to find another way to live, but he feels loyal to Charlie. The story is set in the West when it was lawless, and there are many interesting historical facts to be learned, but I didn't enjoy the story of a life of crime until it was close to over. It is well-written and Eli is a great character. I am glad I read it through to the end, but it just wasn't the book for me.
Science Fiction
The Humans (2013) by Matt Haig
This is a science fiction novel about an alien who comes to earth, and takes over the body of a mathematician, Andrew Martin. However, for me this was more like reading a philosophy book or a self help book. I loved it. See my review.
Crime Fiction
The Found Him Dead (1937) by Georgette Heyer
They Found Him Dead is a very bland title for an entertaining mystery novel set in a country house. Members of the Kane family are dying, and the police are not sure who is causing the deaths or why. See my review.
Winning Can Be Murder (1996) by Bill Crider
Sheriff Dan Rhodes of Blacklin County, Texas has fond memories of playing football for the local high school team in his youth. Like almost everyone else in Blacklin County, he is enthusiastic about the home football team's chances to go to the state finals this year. The football theme did not interest me as much as the earlier books I have read in this series, but a Dan Rhodes mystery by Bill Crider is always an entertaining and fun read, with lovable main characters and a lot of eccentric secondary characters. This is the 8th book in a 25 book series.
The Mistress of Alderley (2000) by Robert Barnard
A successful actress has been set up in a country house by her lover; he visits only on weekends and she thinks she has the perfect life. I love Barnard's style of writing; his books often have unusual or unexpected endings. This one was more straightforward as far as the mystery goes but the mystery had me interested from beginning to end. Another bonus for me was that the policemen in this book were Charlie Peace and his boss, Mike Oddie, from the author's Charlie Peace series.
Just Finished
I finished reading The Warden by Anthony Trollope for the Classics Club Spin and I will be reviewing it soonish, so I won't say too much about it right now. It was the first book I have read by Trollope, and a very good read, once I got used to the style of writing.
Currently reading
I am reading A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong on my Kindle Scribe, which I purchased in February. As you can probably tell from the title, it is a time travel book. With the purchase of the Scribe I got a three-month free trial of Kindle Unlimited. That gave me access to A Rip Through Time, and I wanted to take advantage of the subscription before it ran out. For the first few chapters, I was unsure how much I would enjoy this book, but I am about 50% through it right now and it is getting better and better.
The photos at the top and bottom of this post were taken in early May in our back yard. We have been working on clearing out weeds in the back. There is still lots of work to be done but soon we will be able to buy some new plants for pots.
The photos were taken and processed by my husband. Click on the images for the best viewing quality.
16 comments:
First, please thank your husband for those lovely photos, Tracy - they're gorgeous. You did read some interesting books this month, and I do like the variety. Good to see some Bill Crider (he wrote some fine books), and a good reminder in your post that I'd like to read some Trollope!
Margot, I am glad you enjoyed the photos.
Now that I finally read a book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire series by Trollope, I can move on to the next one in the series. It is over twice as long, but I am sure I will like it too.
I am trying to read a Bill Crider book every month or two so I can read the whole Dan Rhodes series and try some of his other series too.
I've read a LOT of Kelley Armstrong's books in the last few years and mostly enjoyed them (although there is a sameness about them). This is one I thought I had in Kindle but then could not open it. I will have to get it from the library. Glad you are enjoying it.
As always such a nice variety. I really miss having a garden. My last two houses had great gardens and now I don't even have a terrace. But there is lovely park a block away.
Great photos; your garden is really colorful this time of year.
You read a little of everything in April. I'm betting that's a good way to keep your reading fresh, and that it probably works much better in the longterm than reading strictly from only a genre or two.
Are you liking the Scribe? I don't think a day has gone by since I got mine last November that I haven't used it either for reading or note-taking. It's a go-to tool for me now. I was pretty slow getting into the the Kindle Unlimited books via my own free trial period, but they've pretty much hooked me now that I'm finding some pretty extensive author back catalogs among the offerings. Brilliant marketing on Amazon's part...just what I needed, another subscription to pay for every month.
I tagged the Matt Haig book at my digital library after reading your review. I look forward to your review of The Warden since I have it on my list, also.
Constance, I have only read the first two books in the Rockton series by Kelley Armstrong. I enjoyed both but I will admit that they had similarities. Although I tend to wait too long to read a sequel and forget a lot about the previous book. That can be good or bad.
Patti, I never gardened at all until we moved into this condo (25 years ago). I think it was the perfect size for me, not too overwhelming. I can understand how you would miss having a garden. We had nice parks near all the other places we lived in the Santa Barbara area. Now we have to drive to get to various parks.
Sam, we always plant a good number of geraniums, which usually last forever and always bloom nicely in the spring. They are easy plants in most cases which is what I need.
The variety in reading is working well, although as I try new things, I am tending to find a few more books that don't work as well for me. I do wish I could read more and retain more, because I cannot keep up with all the old and new authors I want to read.
I am liking the Scribe a lot. Some people say it is too large for reading but it is perfect for me for reading. I do use the notes feature when reading but I haven't branched out to taking notes separately, which I would like to do. I guess I am going to have to devote some time to making that work for me.
Until I can get more into reading eBooks, Kindle Unlimited doesn't make sense for me. But I agree, the offerings are very good. And I would like to have the availability of some of the subscriptions.
Kelly, I hope I can do a decent job of reviewing The Warden. That is always challenging for me, especially with classics.
The Matt Haig book was a great experience for me. I have several more of his books on my shelves, and expect that I will like them as well.
Hi Tracy, I did read The Warden and it was okay but people who know The Chronicles of Barchester series say that it really takes off with the second novel in the series. And I know after reading Trollope's stand alone The Way We Live Now what an excellent writer he is.
I am planning this year to read Bill Crider's second Dan Rhodes novel. I really like Sheriff Rhodes and the town and thank you for recommending this series.
Kathy, I ended up enjoying The Warden a lot, but when I first began reading it I had a hard time getting used to the style and the humor and I thought it would be depressing. I am going into future books by Trollope with more optimism now.
I hope you like the 2nd book in the Dan Rhodes series. That one was my favorite so far, and a bit less cozy.
The Warden was fine but not at all the best of the three I've read in the series so far. The next two are way better and I loved Dr. Thorne when I read it last year. Hoping to read the next book this summer.
Cath, Just based on how many people enjoy Trollope's writing, I am assuming I will enjoy other books in this series, and probably other stand alone books he wrote too. I do hope to read the next book in the series before the end of 2024.
Pretty flowers. Good luck with the gardening. You had much variety in your reading. I have a copy of the Dewitt novel but haven't read it yet. I have read his most recent novel ... about a librarian which unfortunately I thought was rather dull ... expect for one part in it. Sorry to hear you didn't like his Western much. Is it worth reading?
Susan, I am enjoying the flowers we have now, but I am having a hard time getting motivated to clear out the weeds. Soon I hope.
I think The Sisters Brothers is worth reading. The author tells a good story, I just had a problem reading about what seemed to me to be unrelenting violence and disregard of others. It is a dark comedy, which often doesn't work for me, but it gets better towards the end. I will be looking for more books by the author at the September book sale. The only other one I have is Undermajordomo Minor.
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