The Bean Trees--#92 finished

 This will be my last book finished for 2021, giving me 92 for the year.  I am very happy with that end number.  This is a book that I had picked up to read over vacation, it is a paperback with a bunch of copies in PBS so knocking around on vacation would be no problem.  In fact I took it on a couple vacations but never started it.  Finally figured with a bunch of days off around Christmas this year to read it, good quick read.  A small town girl out of high school in KY decides to get away from there & go somewhere else.  She drives west & ends up in Tucson, AZ--only after being handed a young girl/baby on the way.  In Tucson she meets up with others and they all help out each other.  Like I said earlier a good quick read but also funny at parts too.  Enjoyable overall.

There are already enough copies on PBS that I won't bother posting it, I will instead put in my give away pile.

Birthday--#91 finished

The rest of the title is:  A Love Story Eighteen Years in the Making.  It is about 2 boys growing up together and at around junior high time of the boys starts to have feelings of transgender--maybe it was earlier even, not sure.  This person also lost his mother to cancer months before and is struggling with lots of things in life.  Dad is the football coach & Morgan the TG child was a star on the team but decides to quit.  Eric is Morgan's best friend and they share the same birthday so they have also spent their birthdays together in some way.  The book basically focuses on that time of their birthdays.  A tough story to hear at times because of the struggles both are going through but in the end the two are together & planning a future.  An interesting read of a whole different life & perspective.

There were 5 WL for it & I did go ahead & post right away & is accepted.  I hope to get mailed off maybe tomorrow.

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bone--#90 finished

First off, I am glad to hit 90 books read this year and maybe a couple more before end of year.  I realized early on that 100 was out of reach but surprised I was able to get this many--this is my 2nd most ever.

This is a book that has been on my shelf for a long time.  I have read a few other books by author Lorna Landvik, most are pretty good, the last one I read was a little too much outer space/alien stuff and really turned me off.  This is one of her books that just hits right.  Ladies in a subdivision meet each other & decide to start a monthly book club and the story just flows from there with their lives.  All interesting characters and really just an easy read for the most part.

There are already like 55 copies on PBS so I will just put back on my shelf with a couple of her other ones at this point.  Not quite ready to give away but do really see myself keeping them either.   

Why We Don't Suck--#89 finished

 A book by Denis Leary, I guess there was an earlier book Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid.  I had no idea he was a writer.  I know he was on a few shows/movies and always seemed to play a grating type person.  I didn't know he hosted award shows in past or really anything about him.  I thought it would be a quick sort of easy read when I bought it and it really was.  Nothing too much exciting, some normal bitching and stuff and some about his career.  I had bought it used so was cheap and read it because there was 1 WL for it on PBS.  I posted it but it was not accepted.  Now it sits on my bookshelf, I hope it goes away at some point.

Longitude--#88 finished

 An interesting read about how to solve the problem of finding Longitude for boats on the ocean.  An interesting problem that became a priority when Britain ruled the seas after losing too many boats and sailors from hitting rocks because they didn't know where they were at.  It seems the scientists of the day mostly were looking to the sky and plotting stars and patterns to solve the problem.  A clockmaker developed a clock that was accurate even on the water/at sea.  Neither of these was an easy solution--both took decades to develop & fine tune.  While it seems the clock won out over time--the expense of the clock vs the sky & stars made it a closer race I guess.  I good read about an interesting problem & the solutions.

I have posted it on PBS, there was already 1 copy in system so who knows when/if ever it will move.

Shirley Jones: A Memoir--#87 finished

 Not really sure why I bought this book, bought it used from a resale shop so was only $1.00--can't beat the price but never really paid attention to Shirley Jones.  I was sort of aware she did the Partridge Family but that was a show I never really watched--a little to hippie for us in NE to watch as repeats--I was too young to remember the original shows.  David Cassidy and his brother had their flash in the pan as singers and sort of didn't buy that either like so many others in the '70s it seemed like--cute long haired guys became huge stars and then sort of disappeared.  Oh well, back to Shirley Jones, I didn't realize she had won an Oscar or did a bunch of musicals before the TV series.  An interesting life with troubles for sure but still interesting in that Hollywood sort of way.  A decent quick read sort of book.

There was 1 WL for it so I posted it & already accepted so will get it mailed off hopefully tomorrow.

Willa: The Life of Willa Cather--#86 finished

 I have enjoyed some of Willa Cather's books and knew somethings about her from them and also from just growing up in NE & she being a NE writer.  This book fills in a lot of what her life was like and the people around her--really interesting.  The book mentions the other women she had relationships with but never really spelled out that these were more lesbian relationships rather than just women that were very good friends.  Not sure if author wanted to avoid that or if it was because Willa herself seems to have kept these relationships sort of undefined to her world.  Still even with that being said, the book has a lot of information about her & her life and books.  I did enjoy reading this.

There is 1 copy still in PBS system but with this being my NE author, this book will be kept as a keeper book.

Red Metal--#85 finished

 From the same author as the Gray Man series, this sounds like the first in a new series.  An interesting read with Russia invading Europe into Germany in order to weaken a response in Africa where Russia was also sending a 2nd force to invade Kenya to take back over a mineral rich(rare earth metals) mine/area.  Lots of action between the 2 fronts and how Russia would do this & the American & NATO responses.  Interesting read but is a long book.

There are 12 WL for the book so I will probably post & send off at some point.  Ending made it sound like at least another book will be coming so will have to watch for that as well.

The Summer of Beer and Whiskey--#84 finished

 This book was actually finished at end of Nov but just now getting around to logging it in.  This book about the early days of baseball when a few teams joined together to form the American Association, separate from the other main league the National League.  With teams in towns the National League left or never entered and targeting more working class people the brought back some enthusiasm to the game in these cities.  They charged less to get in, sold beer & whiskey and played Sunday games.  An interesting read about baseball in those early years and some of the great characters of the game.  I enjoyed the book.

There is 1 WL for it so will probably post & send off at some point but no hurry since does talk a lot about the St Louis Browns which eventually became the Cardinals.  With the local angle might put on the keeper shelf, not sure yet.