Books Read in June and July 2026

 

I read a lot of good books in June and July. For various reasons I only read 3 books in June, and I was grateful that I was able to finish 6 books in July.  Since we are now in September, I can report that I did not even come close to finishing my list of books for the 20 Books of Summer event. In June, July, and August I read a total of 14 books. Two were not on my 20 Books list. So I am continuing to read books from that list through September and October, interspersed with other books.

Here are the nine books I read in June and July...

Fiction

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk (2017) by Kathleen Rooney

Lillian Boxfish is 85 years old and decides to take a long walk in New York City on New Year's Eve, 1984. That is very impressive to me, but for her it was easy because she always walks a lot. She meets a lot of different people along the way. The story of her life is told as she takes the walk, mostly through her thoughts. She loved her work in advertising and she was very successful, but there were some very sad stories about her life. Lillian reminded me of the protagonist of The Correspondent. She is outspoken, doesn't mince words, and is opinionated. But still a very likable protagonist. I liked that she did not conform to accepted norms and behaviors. Lillian is based on a real woman, poet and ad woman Margaret Fishback. I bought this book at the September book sale last year and I am so glad I did. 

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop (2024) by Hwang Bo-Reum, Translated by Shanna Tan

This was another great read. It is about a South Korean woman who left her high-stress job and got a divorce and started a book store. One theme is how reading and books help people, but it also has a strong focus on the protagonist's goal to create a good bookshop that people will visit again and again. What I liked best were the philosophical thoughts on what people want out of life. The characters (employees and customers) are all ages and visit the store for many different reasons. My husband read this book and Every Day I Read by the same author, and liked them both. In Korea, this type of book is called "healing fiction." Without a doubt, I will read this book again.

Fiction, Classic

Middlemarch (1872) by George Eliot

I read this book for my 20 Books of Summer list. I had never been interested in reading Middlemarch until recently, but in the spring  of this year I got interested in the book and my husband owned a nice copy. I started reading it on June 4th and finished reading on July 4th, with a 10 day break somewhere in there. It was quite an experience.  My review is here.

Science Fiction

Floating Hotel (2024) by Grace Curtis

This is another science fiction novel my son read first, then loaned to me. I am a sucker for novels set in hotels, so I was eager to read it. It starts out as a simple story about a ship that functions as a luxury hotel, going from planet to planet, with guests and occasionally employees taking time to visit the planet below.  My review is here.

Crime Fiction

Murder on the Yellow Brick Road (1977) by Stuart M. Kaminsky

Stuart M. Kaminsky is one of my favorite authors. His Toby Peters mystery series is set primarily in Hollywood, California. Each book in the 24-book series is centered around a celebrity. Toby is a perpetually down-on-his-luck private eye; the books are humorous and clever. Murder on the Yellow Brick Road is set in 1940, and Judy Garland is one of the primary characters. My review is here.

The Father Hunt (1968) by Rex Stout

Rex Stout is my favorite author. This book is part of his Nero Wolfe series, and one of my favorite books in the series. Amy Denovo asks Archie to find out who her father was. Her mother had been killed a few months earlier in a hit and run incident. I liked Amy because she is a strong young working woman who knows what she wants. She is living with Lily Rowan because she is working on a book about Lily's father. I always like the books that feature Lily, a very good friend of Archie's. I read this book when I was on jury duty for two days in June. It was the only book on this post that was not on my 20 Books of Summer list.

A Graveyard for Lunatics (1990) by Ray Bradbury

This is the 2nd in a three-book mystery series. The first book, Death is a Lonely Business, is a homage to mystery writers such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Ross Macdonald. A Graveyard for Lunatics seems to be based on Bradbury's experiences in Hollywood in the 1950s and 60s. Both books include bizarre happenings and strange, eccentric characters. The story in this book is so fantastical that it is hard to take seriously as a mystery. Yet, in the end I enjoyed the story and was very glad I read it. The magic of Ray Bradbury's writing turns it into a lovely story.  My review is here.

Glass Houses (2017) by Louise Penny

This is the 13th book in the Inspector Armand Gamache series. I have been really impressed by the last four books I read in the series, and this was no exception. I always feel like Penny's Inspector Gamache novels are too dark and serious while I am reading them, but at the end I always give them 5 stars. This one had a very complex plot. The story starts out with Inspector Armand Gamache on the witness stand testifying at a trial, and after that it goes back and forth between the trial and the events that preceded it. Sometimes that gets confusing, but it also created a lot of suspense.

The Sisters (1985) by Robert Littell

This is a weird and wacky story of two KGB agents from the USSR. One of the agents is a sleeper agent in the US. The "Sisters" of the title are two male CIA agents; they are partners and have planned an illegal scheme which is not revealed until the very end. The whole thing is very complex, but the joy is in the journey of reading it, and it is very humorous. It has been a long time since I had so much fun reading a spy story. 

About the photos:

At the top of the post is our cat London, who has been living with us over a year now. He has changed a lot from the cat who first came to live with us. Glen likes to say that London has flipped the maturity switch, although he sometimes switches back to an earlier version. And he has gained 2 pounds; he is now at 14 pounds.

The two photos below are of plants on our front walkway, which were planted in March of this year. The top photo is a cuphea, in a pot. They attract hummingbirds, and we have at least four pots of those in the front. The bottom photo shows a geranium (or pelargonium), which we were lucky to find with that coloration. All of the photos were taken by Glen. Click on the images for the best viewing quality. 

Ten Books I was Reading on this Day (August 11) over the Past 10 Years

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

The topic for Top Ten Tuesday this week was to go back and list the books I was reading on August 11th in the previous ten years. I used Goodreads to find the books but I did find that in some cases it was hard to determine exactly what I was reading on that day, and I just winged it.

2025

Perplexing Plots by David Bordwell

Published in 2023

Bordwell was an influential film scholar; this book, the last one he published, focuses on crime fiction and films in the 1900s up to more recent times. He discusses the development of crime fiction plots and narratives and notes the same developments in plays and film of that time.

2024

A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny

Published in 2016.

The mysteries in this series are always rewarding. Usually very complex and sometimes circuitous and perplexing, they keep me guessing. I never even came close to suspecting the perpetrator in this book. Louise Penny is very good at creating characters we want to read about. She also continues to develop the characters, both the main characters and the continuing secondary characters in Three Pines. It is hard to look back and compare all the books, but I think this is my favorite book in the series so far.

2023

Sleep and His Brother by Peter Dickinson

Published in 1971.

This is the fourth in a series about Jimmy Pibble. In the first two books, he was a Scotland Yard detective; now he has been forced into retirement. His wife is a volunteer for a charitable institution and asks him to look into a problem they are having. There are vague supernatural elements, which is not surprising since Dickenson was a well-known author of fantasy books. The book is very short, around 200 pages, but very dense, not an easy read at all. I loved the story and the writing.

2022

Death Around the Bend by T.E. Kinsey

Published in 2017

This is the third mystery in a series of historical mysteries. Set in the early 1900's, Lady Hardcastle (Emily) and her maid Florence Armstrong solve mysteries while living in the English countryside. The stories are excellent historical fiction, and the mystery plots are well-done. 

2021

Way Station by Clifford D. Simak

Published in 1963.

All I knew when I started this book was that it was a science fiction classic about a man on earth, in the US in the 1960s, providing a station where aliens from other planets stop overnight while traveling from planet to planet. This is completely hidden from the rest of the world. It is a very interesting and entertaining book, with lots of tension, because his station is discovered, and I was surprised at the ending. It is very much of its time, but I did not mind that at all.

2020

Young Bess by Margaret Irwin

Published in 1944.

Young Bess is the first book in a trilogy about Elizabeth I of England.  It covers her life from the time she was 12 until she was about 20, including Henry VIII's death, his son Edward VI's years as king (from age 9 to 15), and Elizabeth's relationships with her brother Edward and Princess Mary, her sister.

2019

Champagne for One by Rex Stout 

Published in 1958.

Rex Stout is my favorite author; I have reread all the books in the Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin mystery series several times. One of Archie's acquaintances asks him to take his place at an annual dinner party and dance for unwed mothers. One of the mothers, Faith Usher, ends up dead. This book has all the best features of the series. The interplay between Archie and Nero Wolfe. Inspector Cramer visiting the brownstone to berate Archie for sticking to his guns regarding the cause of death. And freelance investigators Orrie, Fred, and Saul helping with the detecting.

2018 

Starting out in the Evening by Brian Morton

Published in 1997.

This book follows a short period in the life of four people: Leonard Schiller, a novelist in his seventies; Heather Wolfe, a woman in her early twenties who wants to write her thesis on Schiller's novels; Ariel, Leonard's daughter, who wants very much to have a child; and Casey, one of Ariel's ex-boyfriends. It was a wonderful read but very different from my usual reading.

2017

Hammett by Joe Gores

Published in 1975.

Joe Gores was an admirer and a student of Dashiell Hammett's writing. Both Gores and Hammett had been private investigators before they  became full time writers. Both had lived and worked in San Francisco. Thus Gores was the perfect person to write this fictionalized version of events in Samuel Dashiell Hammett's life, set in 1928 when Hammett was no longer a private detective and was trying to support himself with his writing.

2016

See Also Deception by Larry D. Sweazy

Published in 2016.

This is the second book in a mystery series set in rural North Dakota in October, 1964. The area is affected by a drought, with a severe impact on the crops and livestock on the farm.  President Kennedy was killed in the previous year, and that still affects the nation. There is a cold war going on, very visible in North Dakota, with missile silos being drilled into the ground. Marjorie Trumaine and her husband Hank are owners of a working farm; her husband is an invalid and Marjorie has to run the farm, and take care of her husband. Marjorie is a freelance indexer, creating indexes for non-fiction books. It is this aspect of the book that drew me to the series from the beginning. I think indexes in books are wondrous things and I can only imagine the work that goes into creating one. My husband pointed the first book in the series out to me because he knew I would be interested in it. I loved this book and I don't know why I haven't read the 3rd book yet.

Spell the Month in Books — March 2026

Spell the Month in Books is a monthly meme hosted by Jana at Reviews from the Stacks. Each month one or two themes are suggested for the books that are chosen. One of the themes for March 2026 is "March Madness," and I am focusing on books related to madness.

You will notice, of course, that I am just barely finishing this one on time, with only a little over one day left in the month of March.

M is for The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny

I have read twelve books in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny. This is the seventeenth book in the series, so I have a few more to read to get there. The book was published in August 2021, at a time there was some relief from Covid but it still felt very present and threatening. I haven't read much about the book (on purpose) but I think that the pandemic, and its effects on society, is one of the themes.

A is for Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear

I have read four books in the Maisie Dobbs series. This is the sixth book and I do have a copy on my TBR. Among the Mad begins on December 31, 1931; Maisie Dobbs gets involved in tracking down a madman who has threatened that many lives will be lost if his demands are not met.

R is for Road Rage by Ruth Rendell

I chose this title because I see road rage as a type of madness. However, the plot seems to be more about five kidnapped hostages. The kidnapping is related to the planned construction of a new highway; the construction will destroy a beloved woodland area. I thought I had read all of the Inspector Wexford series by Rendell, but I since discovered that I may have missed some titles published in the 1990s, and this could be one of them. 

C is for Crazy Rich Asians by Keven Kwan

I read this book in December 2019. It is about extremely rich Chinese families in Singapore, and a young American-born Chinese woman who is dating the son of one of the families. There were many things about the story I found impossible to believe (even though I am sure many of them are very true) but even so, I just settled in and enjoyed the ride. It seemed like a fairy tale to me, but it could also be described as a soap opera, and both of those can be very entertaining.

H is for The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 

This is a quote from the first paragraph of The Haunting of Hill House: "Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more." I haven't read this book; I have always avoided the horror genre. But I have a beautiful edition of The Haunting of Hill House, and now and I think I will try it. I have read that it falls somewhere between supernatural and psychological horror.

A Great Reckoning: Louise Penny

Louise Penny's Armand Gamache series is now up to 19 books, with the latest book due to be published October 29, 2024. When I began reading the series, it was primarily a police procedural series, with Gamache as a Chief Inspector of the Surêté du Québec. 

This book is the 12th in the series, and in a previous book in the series, Gamache left his position as head of homicide. At least two of the books after that focus on mysteries not related to Gamache's role as a policeman. But both he and his wife knew that he would someday look for a new career and return to active work. At the beginning of this story, Gamache has made that decision and accepted an offer to become the head of the Sûreté Academy. In the past, the Sûreté had become filled with corrupt officials and the Academy still shows the results of that influence. Gamache hopes to correct that, but he knows it will take time.

Thus this book is primarily set at the Sûreté Academy, and that is an interesting setting. But Armand and his wife Reine-Marie now live in Three Pines, so a good amount of time is also spent there. I like the books no matter where they are set, but when they are in Three Pines, it means that some of the interesting characters who live there will be featured: Ruth, Clara, Olivier and Gabriel, and Myrna at the bookstore.

Not long after Gamache comes to the Academy in his new position, an instructor at the Academy is killed. And Gamache is one of the suspects, although no one believes that it could be him. Clearly Gamache cannot run the investigation of the crime, but he is involved in the investigation as much as possible. 

There are several smaller mysteries in this story. One is why Gamache decided to approve Amelia Choquet for admission to the academy. She is a misfit, has been in trouble with the law and has obvious tattoos and piercings. He obviously feels some connection to her. 

There is another mystery around an old map found in the walls of Olivier and Gabriel's bistro in Three Pines. It turns out to be an orienteering map; some cadets from the Academy and the residents of Three Pines work together to figure out its origins.

At this point in the series, I have a hard time reviewing the books because going into much detail can spoil plot points of earlier books in the series. I also think that reading the books in order is important because some of characters just seem needlessly quirky and irritating without know some of their background.

The mysteries in this series are always rewarding. Usually very complex and sometimes circuitous and perplexing, they keep me guessing. I never even came close to suspecting the perpetrator in this book.

Louise Penny is very good at creating characters we want to read about. She also continues to develop the characters, both the main characters and the continuing secondary characters in Three Pines. It is hard to look back and compare all the books, but I think this is my favorite book so far. 

See other reviews at Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan and Mysteries in Paradise.

 -----------------------------
Publisher:   Minotaur Books, 2016 
Length:      386 pages
Format:      Hardcover
Series:       Armand Gamache, #12
Setting:      Quebec, Canada
Genre:        Police Procedural
Source:      I purchased this book.

My Mystery Books from the 2023 Book Sale

 

From September 15th through September 24th this year, we visited the Planned Parenthood Book Sale five times. Here I have listed ten of the crime fiction books that I purchased at the sale. There were some older books, some newish books.

The House on the Strand (1969) by Daphne de Maurier

I had been looking for books by Daphne de Maurier at the book sale, and my son volunteered to help. He did not have any luck either until he found one in the Science Fiction and Fantasy area. We were both surprised. It turns out this is a time travel book of sorts, so of course I had to try it. Almost 300 pages; I think it will be a good read.

The English Teacher (2013) by Yiftach Reicher Atir

I bought this book because it is spy fiction and the protagonist is a female Mossad agent. Otherwise, I know nothing more about it. The author drew on his own experiences to write the book. It was translated from the Hebrew by Philip Simpson.

Tangerine (2018) by Christine Mangan

I bought this because it is set in Morocco and it is a mystery / thriller. I don't know much about Morocco at all. BookerTalk has reviewed this book. Based on her thoughts on the book I may be disappointed, but it won't hurt to give it a try.

A World of Curiosities (2022) by Louise Penny

I bought this book because I plan to read all the books in this series. And because it was a very good price for a newer hardback, although I usually don't pay $6.00 for books at the book sale. I have read 11 of the books, and this is the 18th. It will take me a while to get to this one.

The Outcast Dead (2014) by Elly Griffiths

This is another series I am working my way through. This is the 6th book of a 15 book series, so it is up in the air whether I will read all of the books in the series or not.

Bitter Wash Road (2013) by Garry Disher

Garry Disher is a prolific Australian author; I think most of his novels are mysteries. I have read one book from his Peninsula Crimes police procedural series, The Dragon Man. His first series stars a thief, Wyatt; two years ago I was lucky to find the first four in that series at the 2021 book sale. I still haven't tried any of those. And this year I found the first book in his most recent series starring Paul Hirschhausen, Bitter Wash Road. 

Brighton Rock (1938) by Graham Greene

I haven't read much by Graham Greene so I was happy to find this old hardback edition of Brighton Rock with the dust jacket mostly intact. The protagonist is Pinkie, a gang leader who has murdered a journalist and thinks he can get away with it. The book goes beyond a thriller to explore moral issues. 

Anatomy of a Murder (1958) by Robert Traver

I have a paperback copy of this book and had wanted to read it for years, but it has the tiniest print I have ever seen. So I was thrilled to find this copy at the book sale. 

This is from the prologue:

"This is the story of a murder, of a murder trial, and of some of the people who engaged or became enmeshed in the proceedings. Enmeshed is a good word, for murder, of all crimes, seems to posses to a greater degree than any other that compelling magnetic quality that draws people helplessly into its outspreading net, frequently to their surprise, and occasionally to their horror."

Missionary Stew (1983) by Ross Thomas

I have enjoyed the Ross Thomas books I have read, which were espionage books. Not all of his books are in that genre, but I think this one has at least a tinge of it.

This is part of a review in the October 16, 1983 Washington Post by Stephen King:

"In a country that chooses to canonize a few of its many fine comic novelists and ignore the rest, Ross Thomas is something of a secret. Missionary Stew is Thomas's 19th novel (five of them were issued under the pseudonym Oliver Bleeck), but the people who know and relish the work of Ishmael Reed, Don DeLillo, and Peter DeVries do not know the work of Ross Thomas, and that seems a great shame. Perhaps Missionary Stew, certainly the best of the Thomas novels I've read, will help to rectify that situation. It is funny, cynical, and altogether delicious. If buying a novel is, as a friend of mine once said, always a speculative investment for the reader, then take it from me--this one is a blue-chip stock. Baby, you can't go wrong."

Strangers in Town: Three Newly Discovered Mysteries by Ross Macdonald, edited by Tom Nolan

From the dust jacket of the book: 

"In an important literary discovery, Macdonald biographer, Tom Nolan, unearthed three previously unpublished private-eye stories by Ross Macdonald. 'Death by Water,' written in 1945, features Macdonald's first detective Joe Rogers, and two novelettes from 1950 and 1955, 'Strangers in Town' and 'The Angry Man,' are detailed cases of Lew Archer."

This was my most expensive purchase at the book sale. The book was published by Crippen & Landru in 2001. It is in excellent condition and includes an additional small booklet with a piece written by Macdonald titled 'Winnipeg, 1929.' Ross Macdonald is a pseudonym of Kenneth Millar; he was brought up in Canada and met his wife Margaret Millar there.

Books Read in July 2023

I had a good reading month in July. No complaints at all. I noticed that I read no vintage mysteries at all, this month or in June. I guess that is because I chose only one of those for my 20 Books of Summer list, and mostly I have been sticking to that list.

And now to the seven books I read:

Nonfiction

The Book of Forgotten Authors (2017) by Christopher Fowler

This is a reread. I read this book first in October 2020, and read it again this year for the Bookish Books Reading Challenge, hosted by Susan  at Bloggin' About Books. Christopher Fowler was interested in finding out about forgotten authors, and wrote a column on that subject in a British newspaper for many years before this book was published. Fowler's essays are entertaining and opinionated, and this is a book well worth reading. 

Jane Austen Cover to Cover: 200 Years of Classic Book Covers (2014) by Margaret C. Sullivan

This book compiles two hundred years of book covers for Austin's six novels and her other writings. It cannot cover every edition ever published but with over 200 images it is very impressive. The book also includes historical commentary and Austen trivia. I also read this book for the Bookish Books Reading Challenge.

Historical Fiction

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2009) by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This epistolary novel set in London and on Guernsey in 1946 depicts the German occupation of Guernsey during World War II from the eyes of the residents. This was another book I read for the Bookish Books Reading Challenge. My review is here.

Science Fiction / Alternate History

SS-GB (1979) by Len Deighton

SS-GB is an alternate history in which England has been invaded by Germany. Len Deighton is one of my favorite authors and I was not disappointed in this book. My review is here.

Crime Fiction

The Nature of the Beast (2016) by Louise Penny

This book is the 11th in the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny, and is set in Three Pines, Quebec in Canada. I like these books no matter where they are set, but when they are in Three Pines, it means that some of my favorite characters will feature: Ruth, Clara, Olivier and Gabriel, and Myrna at the bookstore. My review is here.

Disco for the Departed (2007) Colin Cotterill

This is the 3rd book in the Dr. Siri Paiboun series. This series is especially interesting because of the setting: Laos, in 1977, when the Communists are in power. My review is here.

Murder Most Fowl (1994) by Bill Crider 

This is the seventh book in Bill Crider's longest running series, the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series. This one provides a picture of rural Texas in the 1990's. The series has 25 books total and the last book was published in 2019. My review is here.

Garden Plants in August 

The photos at the top of this post are of Tibouchina heteromalla (Silver leafed Princess Flower) plants in our front flower beds. We just started seeing purple blooms on the plants in the last week. The foliage is also lovely, all year round. 

The top photo immediately above is the red lantana that is planted beside the Princess Flower. Those plant started blooming in late July which seems awfully late to me. 

Directly above is a volunteer strawberry plant that somehow grew in a pot of our succulents out front.

Photos taken and processed by my husband. Click on the images for the best viewing quality.