| jlheuer Feb 11 |
"Time cleaning was less time reading, so I usually just did the minimal amount, and left it for another day, a day that would never come." ― Rebecca Raisin, The Bookshop on the Corner It's that time of the year when I have been hanging around the house too long and I start to notice things. Things like a warren of dust bunnies under shelves and behind furniture. Or whatever spilled in the fridge and then crusted on under the crisper drawer. Or opening the cupboard where I keep all the tupperware and containers and having them all tumble out, not to mention that it takes forever to find a lid to fit a particular container. So it was time to tackle these projects and what better time than in the winter. I keep telling myself that we want to eventually move one day and these things, and many more, are going to have to be done anyway. So about once a week I have taken on one of the bigger projects (cleaning the fridge, inside and on top) and, during the week, a smaller one (dusting,maybe). But in order to do these I have to give myself more of an incentive than a clean and organized house. I am having guests for dinner next week so that pushes me to do the visible surface cleaning but scraping the crud off the top of the fridge calls for a larger carrot. And that is a good book. I play a game with myself, that I get to read once I finish or at least start a household task. Now it has to be a story I really have a hard time putting down, like a mystery. If I am reading a book about genetics like , A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived by Adam Rutherford, the ending is fairly predictable and cleaning the bathroom might be preferable. But if I have C.J. Box's newest Joe Pickett thriller waiting for me, I can sort that tupperware in a flash. Right at the moment I don't having a major cleaning project looming but I do need to find out if two of the men, responsible for the death of King Charles I, escape the executioner. So I'll be reading now, washing the kitchen floor later. Check out our books this month to find a proper incentive for your winter/spring cleaning. - Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson (2015) 430p. The story of the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 during World War I. The narrative alternates between the perspective of the Lusitania passengers and crew, and the German submarine occupants. The story starts a couple days before the ship's departure from New York, and relates backstories of some of the passengers and crew. The story of the German submarine begins with its departure from Germany, and describes what life was like on a submarine. Not good.
- The Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson (2022) 352p. This sequel to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek centers around Honey Mary Angeline Lovett, and her fight for independence after her parents are jailed. Honey, at sixteen year of age, is not quite old enough to live without a guardian and will be sent to live in work-house, unless she can find someone to stay with until she's of age. Honey's mother was one of the Packhorse LIbrarians in Kentucky.
- Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult & Finney Boylan (2022) 464p. This is the story of two moms and their children: Beekeeper Olivia McAfee, and her son, Asher, and Forest Ranger Ava Campanello, and her daughter, Lily, who've recently moved to town. When Asher and Lily become romantically involved, it seems like a match made in heaven and both moms are delighted. But the bliss turns to a nightmare when Lily is killed and Asher is arrested as the prime suspect in her murder. The reader will also learn a lot about bee-keeping.
- Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service by Carol Leonnig (2021) 560p. A well researched book on one of the most famous (or infamous) government bureaucracies in America. The Secret Service is known world wide as the greatest security force in the world, but this book reveals decades long mismanagement, lack of purpose, and mistrust between the agents on the ground and top brass. From Presidents Lincoln through Biden, the author reports on what the agency has gotten right, where they have failed miserably and the problems that still engulf the agency today.
- Murder in an Irish Pub (Irish Village Mystery #4) by Carlene O'Connor (2019) 304p. This is a classic "locked-room" murder, without too much in the way of blood and guts detail as is typical of a cozy mystery. In this one, a poker tournament has come to the town of Kilbane but it has to be halted when one of the players is found hanging in a storage room in the pub. Detective Siobhan O'Sullivan finds the body and is convinced that it's murder, in spite of the fact the room is locked from inside and there is no apparent way in or out.
- Painting Beyond Walls by David Rhodes (2022) 432p. Though interesting, this sequel to Jewelweed just didn't hit the mark for me. The year is 2027 and August is grown and working as a biochemist in a lab at the University of Chicago. When his job is eliminated he returns to Words, Wisconsin where we catch up with his friend Ivan, his parents and others. There have been many changes in the years he has been gone.
- Sworn to Silence (#1 in the Kate Burkholder series) by Linda Castillo (2009) 321p. Our reviewer didn't want to recommend one book but the whole series which she is currently reading. This is book 1 in the series about a small town Ohio police chief in Amish country. Kate Burkholder was raised Amish, but left the community and became a police officer in Columbus, Ohio. She has returned as chief, hired because of her Amish background. Don't be fooled by the fact it is set in an Amish community, this is a dark thriller not a cozy. The next three in the series are Pray for Silence, Breaking Silence and Gone Missing.
- Figure Eight: A Northern Lakes Mystery by Jeff Nania (2021) 246p. The author, Jeff Nania, is a former police officer, hailing from Wisconsin, who now writes mysteries set in the Northwoods. This book, the 1st in a series, revolves around former police officer John Cabrelli who retires after a shooting he was involved in when a teenage girl is killed. He is notified by a Wisconsin lawyer that he has inherited his uncle's lake home in northern Wisconsin, the only bad thing, someone else wants this property and their willing to kill to get it.
- Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall by Helena Merriman (2021) 352p. It's summer, 1962, and Joachim Rudolph, a student, is digging a tunnel under the Berlin Wall. Waiting on the other side in East Berlin - dozens of men, women and children; all willing to risk everything to escape. An amazing book and a true story as well.
- The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict (2016) 484p. The main character in this novel is, Mitza Maric, Einstein's wife and a brilliant physicist in her own right, (the only female studying at the Zurich Polytechnic at the time Einstein was getting his degree). She had to give up her scientific ambitions when she became a mother. Her contribution to the theory of relativity is hotly debated but may have been inspired by her own profound and very personal insight.
- An Elderly Lady Up to No Good (2018) 184p. and An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed (2021) 272p. by Helene Tursten Two books of short stories featuring Maud, an 88 year old and as spry and sharp as she's ever been. However she has a walking stick (not needed), a walker (not needed) and fake hearing aids, which all come in handy when she wants to appear helpless while solving any problems that come up, like a little murder. These books are a big hit in Sweden where the author resides.
- The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad, Book 5) by Tana French (2014) 452p. A year ago a boy was found murdered at a girlsʼ boarding school, and the case was never solved. When sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey arrives at the police station with a photo of the boy with the caption: "I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM." Detective Stephen Moran joins with Detective Antoinette Conway to reopen the case—beneath the watchful eye of Holly's father, fellow detective Frank Mackey.
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