Days of Grace--#2 finished

This is a memoir by Arthur Ashe a famous African American tennis pro from 1970s and then coach & commentator about tennis after that.  He was also one of the first athletes to find out they had HIV and then AIDS--his from a blood transmission after a heart surgery in the 1980s.  I knew he had a St Louis connection but this wasn't really discussed in this book.  I didn't know he had written a few other books before this one so they might have covered that St Louis part more.  This one was written right before he died of AIDS and reading the book with that in mind was always sad.  He talks a lot about his life and his health and the time after he retired from tennis.  Maybe not what I was expecting but still a good read.  This is a book that was on my shelf for a few years so figured now was time to get it read.

There are copies already on PBS so I will not post this one there.  I will put it in my give away pile.

Adjustment Day--#1 finished

The first book finished for 2026.  I finished it a few days ago but just now logging in.  This is a strange book by Chuck Palahniuk who also wrote Fight Club.  I have not read that book but saw the movie & is a strange movie.  This is about young men sort of fighting back against the powers of politicians, media, elites and I guess everyone else.  For some reason police, fire fighters and military all step aside and let this group kill off all leadership of our country and then divide the country into a Black country in Southeast, a gay country in California and rest a white country.  Black country flourishes without white people around in a kind of Wakanda way.  Gay country is where multi racial families moved to avoid being split up but have to live as gay in hiding or something like that.  The white leadership is around Portland in book and he becomes like a medieval knight/king.  

I thought interesting for a while since Trump and supporters were able to attract that young white male group to vote for them and there was a sort of similarity to this.  Other than that rest is just a strange book that I generally didn't really like.

This copy is a large print copy so no WL for this one but there are WL for the regular hardcopy and paperback in PBS.  Not sure if will post or not since still have plenty of credits and few books getting offered to me in PBS.

Casino Royale--#120 finished

This is probably the last book I will finish this year.  I wanted to get over 100 again and when I saw 120--10 books a month average was possible a month or so ago I figured I would try for it.  I thought I was cutting it a little close but actually have 3 days but other books reading will likely not be finished by then.

This is the first in the James Bond series.  I hadn't read this in a quite a few years so somewhat surprised that the Daniel Craig movie followed this story somewhat close.  It is a different sort of Bond than what the movies show and even the later books from what I can barely remember.  A sort of willingness to fall in love and walk away from his 007 status but the ending pushes him back in.  Good read and good reminder of the James Bond character.  Not sure if I will continue with series or not yet.

This is a keeper for me so it will be going nowhere.

C is for Corpse--#119 finished

This is next in the Sue Grafton series.  As I said on earlier books, it is a fun series.  I enjoy the detective work and the characters she comes across.  This cast of characters at times didn't make sense but I guess in the end it came together.  I will be continuing this series in 2026.

These are keeper books for me so no posting on PBS.

Cranial Fracking--#118 finished

This was a short read by author I enjoyed a couple of his other books.  This one not so much, was supposed to be humorous butI guess not for me.  Only short 3 page writeups in a kind of absurd type humor but just wasn't in the mood for it or not my thing.  Didn't like it but I did like his non-fiction books and have another on the shelf I need to get to at some point too.  

I have posted it on PBS and it is the only copy in system so maybe it will move, maybe not.  PBS has been really slow lately for anything moving.

A Matter of Life and Death--#117 finished

This is the next in series of Robin Lockwood, defense attorney in Portland Oregon that was a former MMA fighter.  This time she is defending a former boxer that was down on luck and fought an barn, bare knuckle fight that set him up for worse things including murder.  A good interesting read with good characters.  This has been a fun series.

There are 2 WL for this book but in no hurry to post at this point. 

This is the Fire--#116 finished

This is book by former CNN host Don Lemon, published in early 2021.  Rest of title is: What I Say to My Friends About Racism.  He has a hopeful and optimistic view of things overall but really wants to emphasize racism is still abundantly found in the US.  I agree with that and a lot of what he wrote about but like the book Compromised from earlier, I just kept shaking my head about Trump being re-elected.  This books seems like was completed before Jan 6th 2021 because that is not mentioned.  The hopefulness is I guess from Biden's election.  How things have changed.  Don Lemon is no longer at CNN being fired for misogynistic behavior.  I am guessing his book would sounds a little different but his points on racism still stand and can probably be seen in an even clearer light today.

There is 1 WL for this book on PBS so will probably post & mail off in the new year.  Avoiding post office at this time of the year when possible.