What once looked like this: Right now, looks like this: How does this relate to a book group? Well all I can say is when I left this morning at 9:30 to go to book group, there was just a floor and when I returned at 11:30, I had walls. I'l… | By jlheuer on July 12, 2024 | What once looked like this: Right now, looks like this: How does this relate to a book group? Well all I can say is when I left this morning at 9:30 to go to book group, there was just a floor and when I returned at 11:30, I had walls. I'll keep you all posted on the progress in later posts. But it is finally happening. We were supposed to start in April but rain and other delays, pushed our start date to June 19th. That was just the knocking down and digging of the hole. It took another 10 days to get the foundation poured and cured. So construction started July 8. We are having temps in the high 70s, low 80s and there have been few clouds so the guys have to work in the heat and bright sun. They seem to take plenty of breaks and are staying hydrated but dang!, if they had started in April it sure would have been more comfortable. All, my husband and I can do is watch and then go back in the air conditioned house and have a snack, get something to drink and open a book. My group this morning opened up a lot of books, many sounded really good so my "to read" list has grown again. Hope you find some for your summer reading list. Oops! Almost forgot my monthly quote: "I like seeing construction, even if it's just renovation, because it symbolizes one thing: Hope. ― Jarod Kintz, Powdered Saxophone Music - Everyone on this Train is a Suspect (Ernest Cunningham #2) by Benjamin Stevenson (2024) 320p. Sort of 'in homage" to Murder on the Orient Express, but written in a fun, gimmicky format. The main character is the narrator and often breaks the fourth wall by talking directly to the reader. There are even taunts where he tells you he has mentioned the murderer 50 times in the last chapter. Our reviewer loved it and was totally surprised in the end and no, he didn't see where the murderer was mentioned over 100x in the book.
- Princess: A Private Novel by James Patterson & Rees Jones (2018) 384p. Morgan, head of Private, the international investigation service, has been summoned to London by Princess Caroline, third in line for the British Throne. A close friend of hers, sort of a wild child, has gone missing and needs to be found before the tabloids get hold of the story.
- King Me (Ken Allen Super Sleuth #3) by J.A. Crawford (2023) 288p. A murder mystery which takes place during a super fan convention of a TV show called The Lands Beyond where the actors all attend as the characters they play in other shows. The producer/creator of the show hires P.I. Ken Allen to discover who murdered him, in the fictional sense, but then he is actually murdered.
- Eruption by Michael Crichton & James Patterson (2024) 432p. After finding a partial manuscript in Michael Crichton's papers, his widow contacted James Patterson to finish the story which has resulted in this book. A typical Crichton adventure, this one features a history-making once-in-a-century volcanic eruption that is about to destroy the Big Island of Hawaii but with a devastating world twist. As she read it, our reviewer said it was a movie in the making.
- A Time for Mercy (Jack Brigance #3) by John Grisham (2020) 464p. Jack Brigance, from A Time to Kill, is back. This time he has been assigned to defend Drew Gamble, 16 year old boy accused of murder. The case is highly divisive because the victim, was a highly respected local deputy. However, behind closed doors he was a abuser who had repeatedly taken out his anger on Drew's mother, his girlfriend. Was the killing justified?
- Ghosts of Bungo Suido by P.T. Deutermann (2013) 343p. This book has been getting passed around in our group so if you are looking for a good submarine story, this is it. It is WW II and an American sub is tasked with taking the fight right to the Japanese. While there, they must also complete a little secret side mission. Everyone in our group who has read this book has really enjoyed it.
- The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily and Anne by Catherine Reef (2012) 240p. A well researched biography exploring the lives of the three women behind the novels, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey (not as well-known). All they wished to do was write but sadly they were born into a family that existed in poverty, their mother dying early and their father a preacher. All that was left to them was teaching or being a governess which they refused to do. The book also contains an outstanding collection of more than sixty black-and-white archival images.
- The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan (2024) 352p. This novel is set in Malaya (now called Malaysia) during the Japanese occupation in World War II. Cecile, a Eurasian wife and mother, willingly becomes a spy for the Japanese because they have promised an "Asia for Asians." They prove to be worse than the British who previously occupied Malaya and now Cecile's family is facing the consequences.
- The Life We Bury (Joe Talbert #1) by Allen Eskens (2014) 304p. Joe Talbert, a student, gets an assignment in English class to interview a stranger and write a biography of them. He goes to a local nursing home where he meets Carl, a Vietnam vet, who was convicted of the brutal rape and murder of a young girl. Carl has been released to the nursing home because he is terminally ill. As Joe interviews Carl and his friends, he begins to believe that there was a miscarriage of justice and Carl is innocent.
- The Bookseller of Inverness by S.G. MacLean (2022) 416p. This historical novel takes place six years after the battle of Culloden. Iain, severely scarred, barely survived and now lives a quiet life as a bookseller in Inverness. The Jacobite movement still simmers below the surface and when Iain's father, who he thought dead, shows up, Iain is drawn into a search for a list of spies who betrayed the clans to the British and may still be operating.
- The It Girl by Ruth Ware (2022) 432p. A mystery centered on two friends/roommates: Hannah Jones and April Clarke-Cliveden. They and another group of friends attended Oxford together but by the end of the year, April was dead, murdered. Now, ten years have passed. April's murderer, John Neville, has passed away. A podcaster investigating the murder shows up at Hannah's home, asking some revealing questions. What is the truth? Does Hannah really know her friends as well as she thinks she does?
- Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (1997) 338p. A work of magical realism, this novel tells the story of Tilo, a young woman from another time who has a gift for the mystical art of spices. Now immortal, and living in the gnarled and arthritic body of an old woman, Tilo has set up shop in Oakland, California, where she administers curatives to her customers. But when she's surprised by an unexpected romance with a handsome stranger, she must choose between everlasting life and her dedication to her customers.
- The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel (2019) 385p. This book features the Champagne area of France during WWII. We have alternating storylines with Ines Chauvin, Edith Thierry and Celine Laurent in the 1940's and in the present day with Liv. A historical fiction novel with a few twists, heartbreak and of course a background of tragedy with the holocaust casting a cloud over everything.
Update: It is a day later from when I started this post. My remodeling now looks like this: | | | | You can also reply to this email to leave a comment. | | | | |
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