M. N. Reading - 2024

[niko]

On 4/14/2024 at 8:25 PM, muggle not said:

7. Amongst our Weapons (Rivers of London Series) - Ben Aaronovitch - 4/5 - I really enjoyed this book, maybe a wee bit more than some others in the series. A few books back I was worried about Peter and Beverly having to break up but that is no longer the case. I also enjoyed The Angel of Death in this book and had sympathy for her.

This book has been waiting for its turn for quite some time, it seems like your comment is a sign that I should finally read it.

[muggle not]

8. Suttree - Cormac McCarthy - 4.5/5  - Very good read and the prose is excellent . Cormac McCarthy is one of a kind. He just boggles my mind on how great his prose is. The story is of a guy that comes from a good upper class family but he deserts his wife and kid and lives a life on a run down houseboat on a river in Knoxville, Tennessee. He lives in a society of squatters, somewhat criminals, and generally speaking a society of a much lower group of people. The book requires deep thinking to understand the life he chooses. 

 

Note: This was a re-read for me.

Edited April 29, 2024 by muggle not

[muggle not]

9. Ballpark: Baseball in the American City - Pete Goldberger - 4/5 - I really liked this book as it "started" with baseball being played in the 1840's - 1850's and how the ballparks came to being bult. Primarily though it is about the Ballparks that baseball has been played in over the years including detailed descriptions of the parks and their surroundings. Baseball was truly the American pastime for many, many, years though the 1950's and 1960's and then the game started to change. it is still a good game but has lost so much. 

[muggle not]

10. The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris - 4/5.

[muggle not]

11. Wild New World : The Epic Story of Animals and people in America - Dan flores - 4/5

 

12.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - 4.5/5

 

13. Clete: A Dave Robicheaux Novel - James lee Burke - 4/5

 

14.First Frost: A Longmire Novel - Craig Johnson 4/5

 

 

 

 

[muggle not]

15. The Bookseller of Inverness - S.G. MacLean - 4.5/5

[France]

On 7/17/2024 at 8:33 PM, muggle not said:

15. The Bookseller of Inverness - S.G. MacLean - 4.5/5

One of my favourite books of last year.

 

I recommended it to my book group and one member said she thought it was bland! Not sure she'd read the same book as the rest of us!

[muggle not]

I haven't been doing much reading recently as the Olympics have been occupying my time.

However, I did download The Thursday Murder Club today. I checked my library, and they had some people on hold in front of me so I joined a library in a nearby town and the book was available.  I now belong to 2 different libraries where I can download books to my kindle. 🙂

[muggle not]

16. The Thursday Night Murder Club - Richard Osman - 4.5/5 - I really enjoyed the book.  Writing was good and the story was even better. It was a fun read.

[muggle not]

17. Table For Two - Omar Towles - 4/5 - This is a book of short stories, almost. There are 4 or 5 short stories and then about half of the book is devoted to the story "Eve in Hollywood which is a follow up to Rules of Civility but only featuring one of the women, EVE. I really enjoyed the story as Eve raised the dickens in Hollywood where she became friends with many well known actors and Producers. 

The actual short stories were "just" ok to read. The first short story was good until the ending which I didn't understand.

[muggle not]

18. A Calamity of Souls - David Baldacci - 4/5 - story is along the lines of How to Kill a Mockingbiird although, of course not on the same level. Regardless, I enjoyed it.

[muggle not]

19. Camino Ghosts - John Grisham - 4.5/5 - Great read for me. Books starts about 300 years ago when people in Africa were captured by slavers and put on a boat to America. Story has some "curses" involved in the tale (any white person that lands on the Island ends up dying) and ends up in 1955 with a final descendent of the captured Africans involved in a trial to keep ownership of the island in her name vs a big group that wants to build a Casino on the Island. The Characters involved in the story are awesome. This is John Grisham's 3rd book about Camino Island and I liked all three as many of the Characters are involved in all 3 books.

[muggle not]

20. You Like it Darker - Stephen - 3.5/5 - I am a great fan of Stephen King but this was not one of his greatest, it was ok reading though. Book consists of about 5 short stories. I like the short stories except for the ending on some, I probably just didn't understand  some of the endings.

[muggle not]

21 - Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin - 4.5/5 - A thoroughly enjoyable book. Great story and keeps getting better the further you get into the book.

The following is from Amazon:

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: A novel 

By Gabrielle Zevin

 

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Sam and Sadie—two college friends, often in love, but never lovers—become creative partners in a dazzling and intricately imagined world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality. It is a love story, but not one you have read before.

"Delightful and absorbing." —The New York Times • "Utterly brilliant." —John Green
 
One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • One of the Best Books of the Year: The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, TIME, GoodReads, Oprah Daily

Edited December 7, 2024 by muggle not

[muggle not]

22 - That is why We lied - Karin Slaughter - 3.5/5 - Not one of my favorite Karin Slaughter books.

[muggle not]

23 - Grey wolf - Louise Penny - 4.5 / 5 - Really enjoyed book 19 of the Chief Inspector Gamache Series. Louise Penny is one of my favorite authors.

[muggle not]

24. spirit Crossing - William Kent Krueger - 4/5