Zorrie by Laird Hunt and A Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley (and a non-fiction by Ivan Doig), I'm now reading The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor.

The National Book Award-winning novel—and contemporary classic—that launched the brilliant career of Gloria Naylor. Naylor weaves together the stories of seven women living in Brewster Place, a bleak-inner city sanctuary, creating a powerful, moving portrait of the strengths, struggles, and hopes of black women in America. A touching and unforgettable read.

It's been a good read so far.

Only just started it, but it's already good. Such a great writer.

Next up will be "The Holiday" by TM Logan. This has just been made into a TV series, so I need to read the book before I watch it.

Johnson has declared that Covid is done. So that's something. Johnson has also had a publicity shot of himself in war hero mode on the front line. In Oxfordshire ffs.

"The professional's professional of suspense writers." With over 90 books, 21 of which are Travis McGee tales. Guaranteed good reading.

Hope that new series turns out good. Goodness knows we all need something to look forward to.

Don't throw those masks away just yet. Or ever, probably.

I am planning to re-reading the Travis McGee stories after finishing a James Bond binge...

Current dead tree material. Also started listening to "Gravity's Rainbow" by Pynchon.

The life of Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace -- Lord Byron's daughter and the world's first computer programmer. How interesting. I'll bet it's quite good.

I'm not sure about listening to Gravity's Rainbow. That was hard enough to read; 900 pages, all those characters. Probably don't want to try while driving. YMMV, of course.

It was pretty interesting.

I'm heading over to the library to pick it up. Someone posted it in a posting about funny books here. I need something humorous!

just might fit the bill.

A professor of genetics embarks upon the Wife Project: a sixteen-page questionnaire to find the perfect partner. MUST BE PUNCTUAL. LOGICAL. AND ENJOY TRAVELING BY BICYCLE. NO SMOKERS. DRINKERS. OR HOROSCOPE READERS NEED APPLY. Then in walks Rosie Jarman.

And she's written a ton of them with a side series too. Time travel. British humor. Hilarious!!!

by Allison Brook……A Haunted Library book. There may be a cat involved.

"Overdue"

An enthralling series debut featuring a librarian who solves mysteries with the help of a ghost in the stacks. I really gotta read this series.

Just finished The Bone Witch, by Rin Chupeco. I don't normally read fantasy but this one was quite good, except for the non-ending, which (obviously) wants you to buy the next book in the series. Not going to do that at the moment. This is excellent fantasy though, about a young girl undergoing training as an asha, a sort of sorcerer + geisha + healer--except she is a rarity, a Dark asha, able to deal with forces of the Dark.

Also recently finished Rose Cottage, by A.K. Madison, which is by way of being an updated and sideways version of Pride and Prejudice. I acquired this as a favor to Ms. Madison, who is by way of being an online friend of long standing. It could, I suppose, be classified as fanfic, but it's so much better written than any fanfic I've ever read. That said, I'm still not a Jane Austen fan in terms of reading her stuff. I have enjoyed movie and TV versions and even audiobooks, but I find reading the stuff just tedious. Don't ask me why.

Now reading We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. It's seriously weird. It's a novel that passes itself off as a family memoir, about a fractured family and a girl who stopped talking in childhood. Why do books like this always win awards? This one won the Pen/Faulkner and was a Man Booker finalist. I think I might be depressed before I finish it and need a nice light romance to cleanse my mental palate.

And it won a lot of awards. I don't know sometimes....

For a nice light romance you might enjoy The Maid by Nita Prose. Sure, there's a murder and evidence of spousal abuse, but it's billed as "a heartwarming journey of the spirit" and I don't find it at all depressing. Yet.

I'm about half way through the book, love Mitch Rapp.
It is a shame that the world lost this great writer at such a young age. I've read several of his books and enjoyed all of them.

Spies, assassins, politics. I know there are some readers here who might really want to look for these books.

And I agree, he passed way too soon.

Thanks for making us aware of him.

by David S Brody.
A mysterious race of North American giants.

An ancient Hebrew inscription in a Cherokee burial mound.

A blood oath made by blindfolded Freemasons.

Are these three historical oddities the reason the CIA is trying to brainwash historian Cameron Thorne and his fiancée Amanda Spencer-Gunn? The answer lies buried in the legends of the Knights Templar, within the rituals of the secretive Freemasons and, most significantly of all, inside the bowels of the Smithsonian Institution. The problem for Cam and Amanda? If they go rummaging around the Smithsonian, they may find themselves buried alongside the ancient giants.

Based on actual historical artifacts, and illustrated.

Publishers Weekly says of the author, "BRODY DOES A TERRIFIC JOB OF WRAPPING HIS RESEARCH IN A FAST-PACED THRILL RIDE."

This is a stand-alone novel with recurring characters. These books can be read in any order.

It is good, I am just doing other things right now.

Spent a lot of time last week pursueing and acquiring items for a Silent Auction being held at a Democratic fundraiser.

And for us. Go Beto!! And every other Dem with the courage to take on Texas repugs.

Henry, Himself by Stewart O'Nan. I'm now rereading Emily, Alone, same author.

O'Nan is a vastly unappreciated author. He never seems to show up on any kind of best of lists, which is a shame. The Good Wife, which has absolutely nothing to do with the TV series by that name, is one of the best books I've ever read. A has been robbing local residents, with a friend of his. One robbery goes horribly wrong, and a woman dies. The friend turns state's evidence, says the other man did it, and he gets sentenced to 25 years to life. His wife, pregnant at the time with their first child, stays with him, even though her family says she should divorce him and get on with her life. Her devotion, her raising of their only child, her visiting him -- made difficult when he's transferred to a facility at the other end of the state -- her working whatever jobs she can get to keep things together, are all the story. It's incredible and you won't regret reading it.

O'Nan tends to write about ordinary people and their ordinary lives, and he's extraordinary at it.

The first book of his I ever read was The Circus Fire, about the Hartford circus fire July 6, 1944. I am terrified of and fascinated by fire, and have read any number of books about fires. To Sleep With the Angels, about a Catholic school fire in Chicago in 1958 is also amazing and fascinating.