Place Last Seen--#89 finished

A family, husband, wife and a 9 year old boy & 6 year old girl with Down syndrome, go on a day hike in the mountains.  The girl runs off and they cannot find her.  Search teams come in, then dog teams, helicopters and more are there and she is not found.  The story gets into each of the family members as well as into the minds of some of the searchers.  A tough book to read, especially as my son has Down syndrome.  At 6 he was a runner too and got away from us a few times but obviously nothing like this story.  Is a sad read and tough at times but I think the author handled it well and did a good job of coming at this situation from different sides.  It was published in 2000, so would have been thought of/written in the 1990s so cell phones not everywhere but in mountains no cell service anyway.

This is a beaten up copy, I got from PBS but was really not a book that should have been sent.  Not sure if spine was cracked before or not but is now so won't go through PBS.  Not sure if keeping at this point or if will donate off somewhere else.

Havana--#88 finished

 This is a book by Mark Kurlansky, I have read several of his books and they are pretty enjoyable.  A sort of history, travel, food and just basic and interesting info in the books and this fits the bill.  I didn't really know much of Cuba and Havana and book helped get me a little more knowledge.  A mostly fun and quick read.  An interesting place that has sort of started opening up and will be interesting to see what comes in the future between it & the US.

There were 2 WL for the book so I already posted it & hope to mail it off either today or tomorrow.

Charming Billy--#87 finished

 This is a book that has been on my shelf for a while and finally got around to reading it.  Story of an Irish family in New York from during WWII to the mid '70s.  After the war Billy & Dennis met two Irish sisters and Billy fell in love to Eva but she was returning to Ireland.  Billy gives her a ring and gets a loan from a local and sends money so she can return to New York.  The other sister was working as nanny and lets Dennis know that Eva is not returning she is marrying a guy in Ireland.  Dennis decides to not tell Billy this and instead tells him Eva died in a car crash.  Billy was already a drinker so not sure if this made worse or not but becomes full fledge alcoholic but does marry a local gal, whose father was also an alcoholic.  Story bounces along but Billy does find out 40 years later on his trip to Ireland--why Dennis doesn't tell him the truth before this trip, I have no idea.  Basically Billy's life is written and dies from his alcoholism.  This is an award winning book but not for me, didn't really like the characters or much of the story.

There are like 90 some copies on PBS so this will be a give away book for me.

Things That Matter--#86 finished

 This is a book of columns Charles Krauthammer wrote over the years.  A really interesting read to hear about what he was saying at a certain time in history.  I really liked reading this and about his opinions, I really think his voice is missed today.  The book was published in 2013 so misses on all the Trump rise to nomination and presidency, I had to wikipedia it and it sounds like he was a Never Trump guy.  While he couldn't stop Trump, he would have been a reasonable voice at Fox and for conservatives to counter Trump.  Oh well history moves on but no one seems to fill his shoes at least for me.

There are copies in the PBS system so not posting it at this point.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?--#85

 This is a sort of memoir by Mindy Kaling, the actress who played Kelly Kapoor in The Office.  She is more of a writer for the Office but earned her way into being on screen too.  This is similar to some of the other books by actors I have read, some part about their life & how they got into acting, some what it is like on set and then about their thoughts and random stuff.  Good light reading I guess.

There are around 5 copies in PBS system so not posting it anytime soon.  My youngest is an Office fan so will probably keep around for her to read at some point.

The Girl Who Lived Twice--#84 finished

 This is the next in the Lisbeth Salander series.  Lisbeth & her sister are still trying to track each other down for a final battle.  Camilla kidnaps Blomkvist and forces that final confrontation at the end of the book.  While all this is going on Blomkvist was involved in identifying a homeless man that was murdered.  Lots of moving stories and characters in this book.  At times seems a little too disjointed but was still an entertaining read.

So far these books have been keepers for me and this one joins the others.